Banchou of the Dead
by TitaniumWyvern
Summary: Years before Z-Day, Komuro Takashi had distinguished himself in the badboy world of Japan. Recognized as the Banchou, his history with violence will help him in world crazier and deadlier than before.
1. Rise of the Dead

******A.N.: **Hi, it's me again. Sorry that haven't updated my other stories at all. Getting a degree in engineering turned out to be very busy, especially the last year. Anyway, this is my take on High school of the Dead. I'll try to keep the characters not OOC and keep the number of OCs to a minimum. If there are any, they might just be part of the peanut gallery or the 1 scene dead crew.

Enjoy, but please review afterwards.

**Disclaimer: I don't own Highschool of the Dead.**

**Chapter one: Rise of the Dead**

_The night before everything ended, I stayed up late. I didn't know why, but I remembered that I got a 15 minute lecture from an old friend and I left the dorms to run an errand. But now it doesn't seem important maybe if things have gotten better I'd remember._- Last journal entry from Komuro Takashi, day before Z-Day.

Another school day. Today, just like yesterday, Komuro Takashi took an extended bathroom trip that he spent where ever he wanted to. His friends would have said that he just didn't feel like attending class. But his closest friends knew the truth, he was feeling tired.

Being only in his second year of high school, the young man had distinguished himself as an exceptional man. Driven, just, strong willed, able to think on his feet, and was known to improvise whenever necessary. If he were born 400 years earlier, he might be a famous general or warlord. Unfortunately, in this era, a person with such characteristics was often considered impudent.

As a student, Komuro Takashi was average in most subjects, excelling in Japanese, Japanese history, and physical education compared to other subjects. He got along well with some of his peers, respected by some of his juniors, and liked by some teachers. But behind all of that, he realized most of his acquaintances were afraid of him or for him.

Ever since the slight misunderstanding that dragged him to the world of juvenile delinquency, he became the target of several groups' animosity. There were many times he had to fight, in school, in the streets; anywhere anyone was dumb enough to challenge him. And now, he was already 'scouted' by the right-wing extremist group led by his childhood friend's father.

During his first year in middle school, a group of students from the neighboring city Kawagoe mistook him as a known delinquent, Sakamoto Takashi. In an attempt to make a name for themselves, the group of 10 attacked Komuro Takashi in the banks of the Arakawa river. Komuro, being a 3rd dan in Aikido had no problem dispatching them with relatively minor injuries, yet still require intensive care in the hospital. As it was an act of self defense and investigation done by the police attested to it, he was then cleared of all charges and walked free.

However, this proved to be the beginning of his woes. Due to an exaggerated rumor that began from who-knows-where, he was given the image of a violent scum who prowled the streets, looking for fights. Without given a chance to explain his circumstances, Takashi's first love slapped him and insulted him in front of the whole class and soon the whole school knew about it. Even though it happened a year ago, the pain still remained and the bad feelings lingered. Which brought us to this young man's current predicament.

Xxxx

Kendo dojo, Fujimi High

If one were to ask where to find a student who was prone to skipping class, the most probable answer would be the rooftop or staircase. Anywhere they can laze around out of the teachers' sight. However, this was not the case for Komuro Takashi. The young man would rather use his skipping time in the kendo dojo of Fujimi High, lying on his back, facing the roof and enjoying the company of the beautiful kendo club captain, Busujima Saeko.

It was rarely known around the school, but these two people have quite a history together that seemed odd. They first met at the Tokonosu police station, questioned for a similar charge in different cases. Saeko because she half killed an almost-rapist and Takashi for sending 10 juvenile delinquents to the hospital with multiple fractures and dislocations.

It was due to this that their greeting could not be more awkward as the first sentence they said to each other was: "What are you here for?" Yet it was due to this peculiar meeting that these two seemingly different individuals found a kindred spirit.

Currently, Takashi had his head on Saeko's lap as she looked at him and stroked his hair lovingly while he was staring at her face and the ceiling. Then, just as she usually did, she asked him, "What are you thinking of?"

"Nothing, really."

"I see." She then looked forwards and smiled. This private moment, however was disturbed by a loud clanging sound disturbed their peaceful moment and in curiosity looked to the main gate where a peculiar incident was happening.

Xxxx

Fujimi High Entrance

Usually, teachers who were put to day guard duty had a simple job, find skipping students and return them to their class. Today, however, the four teachers were facing something peculiar.

A man who seemed like he was either drunk or high was repeatedly slamming himself to the gate, drawing nervous glances from the ping pong club's advisor, Hayashi Kyouko and 2 other teachers.

After a few moments of observing this odd individual, Hayashi-sensei spoke to him. "Who are you? Please stop this peculiar act at once."

Seeing as he did not respond, she spoke again, this time with more authority in her tone. "Stop what you're doing right now or we'll call the police."

The PE teacher Teshima, however was looking at this as a chance to show off his manliness. Ignoring the proper procedures, the buff teacher walked towards the gate and said, "No need to call the police, Hayashi-sensei. We can take care of this no problem."

"Stop that, you son of a bitch!" Teshima roared as he grabbed the man by his lapels and slammed him to the gate.

"Wait, Teshima-sensei, that kind of force..." the other teacher said.

"No, something's wrong with this guy..." the PE teacher said as something fell from the weirdo. He didn't get a clear look at it, but the other teachers did.

"F-Fingers!" Hayashi Kyouko screamed as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"Wha..." Teshima didn't finish his question as he was suddenly bitten by the man and lost a good chunk of his left arm.

Curious, they stayed to watch what'll happen then, but when the 'dead' Teshima stand up and started walking, they knew something crazy was going on.

Xxxx

Kendo dojo

Komuro didn't waste time seeing the teachers freak out about their 'fallen' comrade. He did, however hear the screams that 1 of the teachers let out as he ran back inside the school building. In a situation like this, he had to do his duty, warn his friends and give them a bigger chance of survival.

The young man stood up and took with him an olive green bike messenger bag and turned to leave. However, Saeko stopped him and kissed him on the lips.

"For luck." She said. "I'll meet you at the usual spot."

Even though they had done this quite often, he was rather unaccustomed to her sometimes straightforwardness. In a daze, he could only nod and ran out of the dojo.

Xxxx

Classroom

Takashi barged into his classroom and walked into Miyamoto Rei's desk. Out of anger, the teacher reprimanded Takashi harshly. "Komuro," he said, "You're not happy just skipping class now you have to disturb it too?"

The young man ignored the teacher's scolding and spoke to his childhood friend. "Something weird happened at the gate. Let's get out of here."

"What? What are you doing? We're in the middle of class." She responded angrily.

"It doesn't matter. Just hurry up!" He was starting to lose his patience with this girl.

"Hey, Ta... Komuro, what do you think you're doing?" Takagi Saya asked.

His best friend, Igou Hisashi stood up and grabbed Takashi's left hand, trying to stop his rather odd behavior and said: "Takashi, what are you doing?"

The students around them had absolutely no sense of urgency, thinking that this was just another one of Komuro's antics, trying to woo Miyamoto or something. Other students who were more attentive, however, knew something big was happening.

Without releasing his grasp, he answered. "There's been an accident at the gate, some weirdo attacked the teachers."

"Are you serious?" Igou asked with narrowed eyes, trying to gauge the seriousness of the problem.

"What's in it for me if I lie?" Takashi answered coolly.

"Wait a minute, don't keep your explanations from me!" Rei commanded while releasing her arm from Takashi's grip.

Having had enough of this and realizing they are wasting time arguing over nothing, the brown haired young man slapped her and spoke in a rare, authoritative voice. "Stop wasting time and let's go!"

Realizing that his best friend wasn't kidding, Igou Hisashi followed his instructions and ushered his girlfriend out of the classroom. Once they reached the hallway, the group of 3 immediately broke into a jog.

"Takashi, can you tell me the full story?" Hisashi questioned, slightly wary.

"There's a killer at the front gate. Then he offed a teacher or two."

"Do you seriously expect us to believe that?" the brown haired girl asked.

"Fine, don't believe me and get killed for all I care."

"Wait a minute." Hisashi suddenly stopped them. "If what you said is true, we might need weapons."

He opened a locker and pulled out a baseball bat and handed it to Takashi before he broke off a broom handle and gave it to Rei.

"I'll be fine since I'm a black belt in karate."

"Well, we should call the police first." Rei said. "My dad's a detective, so he can help us right away."

Although reluctant, Takashi nodded and handed her his cellphone. Seeing their odd looks, he shrugged. "Rules are there to be broken, right?"

As soon as she received the device, she dialed 110 and waited for a reply. However, she heard something completely unexpected.

"_I repeat, this is a recording. We at the 110 emergency line are held up at the moment. If after calling again, we still cannot receive your call, please wait and call again later._"

"No way." She said in with shaky hands. "For the 110 to be busy... how can this..."

"Then, we might as well..." Takashi trailed off before he entered a nearby clubroom. Moments later, a crash was heard and he exited moments later with a machete strapped to his waist left along with another knife he fastened to the back of his belt.

"How did you...?" Hisashi asked.

"Mountain trekking club." The young man answered. "They always leave their tools in the club room in a glass cupboard. You sure you don't want the bat?"

Just as he finished his explanation, an announcement suddenly aired in the school's PA system.

"_Attention all staffs and students. I repeat, attention all staffs and students. At the present time there is a violent struggle occurring in the premises. Students, follow your teachers' instructions and evacuate in an orderly fashion._"

Having a bad feeling about the announcement, the young delinquent re-zipped his bag and slung it across his right shoulder. "Although it's good they realized this, I think we might need to hurry."

"What do you mean?"

"So far, we're able to walk around freely because no one noticed how deep a shit we're in. Once they know, we might have to fight our way out, not just whatever the hell's out there, but students and teachers too."

Just as Takashi said this, they suddenly heard a panicked screaming coming out of the speaker. "_Hey, what are you doing? Stop this. Wait! Stay away... STAY AWAY! GYAAAAAAH! STOP IT! HELP! HELP MEEEEE! OW! IT HURTS... IT HURTS. I'M GONNA DIE! GAAAAAHHH!_" Just as suddenly, the broadcast ended and everything in the school went silent.

Just like the calm before a storm, everyone panicked and flooded the hallway, shoving, pushing, and pulling anything in front of them just to get one step closer to freedom.

"Shit." The boys cursed as they ran opposite to the panicked rabble.

"Wait! Where are you going? Weren't we getting out of here?"

"With that announcement, everyone's gonna flood the way. We're better off escaping from the administrative building."

As they ran, they suddenly came across one of the teachers, Wakisaka-sensei who taught social studies. At first, they were worried if he was trying to stop the group of three, but a closer look at him revealed otherwise.

He was dead... or undead. The wide gaping jaw, the eyes rolled up, and the jerky movements told them as much.


	2. In the Dead School

**Opening: **Here's chapter 2 (with one very minor change) and it's time to answer the questions and reply to some of the reviews.

To **good**: I don't really hate her, but for several episodes and chapters she was very annoying. So, it's actually a slight dislike. I try to keep her in character, but let me know if I failed to do that, yeah? Thanks.

To **LordRevanMandaloreofZutara**: Thank you for the praise. I thought the same as you and I really think that Takashi's not just a goody 2 shoes student. I actually thought of giving him ties with the yakuza in this series, but seriously pondering about that right now. Anyway, you'll see in this chapter that he has more than legal acquaintances. Sorry, but Hisashi's got to go. His character introduction was too short and it's very hard to get a good grip of what he was like, so I can't really develop his character. Thanks.

To **JohnTitor**: It's unorthodox, which is fun, right? I'm going to make this a (hopefully) believable harem pairing, but some people might not like it.

To **WryteRzDeezDayz: **You're right. My mistake. I changed it here. Thanks for noticing.

**A.N: **This story will have a harem pairing for both guys, but Kouta will have a different pair than usual. Somebody will be brought back from the dead just for him. Anyway, please enjoy and review afterwards. Thank you.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Highschool of the Dead.

**Chapter 2: In the Dead School**

As pandemonium broke out in the school area, a group of three was having a stand-off with a zombie. The dead Wakisaka-sensei was limping towards them as he smelled something. Though more athletic, Komuro Takashi was used to being cautious. After all, one does not survive in the violent world of juvenile delinquent being careless.

"Rei, Hisashi," he addressed. "Don't walk too fast. We don't know what we're dealing with."

They did as were told and walked slowly to the decaying man until the distance between them was no more than 1 meter. However, for some reason this particular undead was drawn towards Rei and slowly approached her.

In the most inopportune moment, however the young woman was stunned. Due to the unwillingness to comprehend that this figure in front of her who was once a respected teacher was now an enemy.

"What are you doing? Rei!" Takashi yelled in anger.

"Don't underestimate the soujutsu club." She yelled loudly.

Having finally came to her senses, she readied her mop-spear and in a single movement struck the zombified teacher on his knee, head, and finished with a stab to the heart.

However, to her horror, Wakisaka didn't stop and now her make-shift weapon was stuck in the zombie's torso.

"What? But I stabbed him in the heart!" Rei yelled in shock.

Fearing for his girlfriend's safety, Hisashi ran forward and grabbed Wakisaka in a chokehold and called out, "Now, Rei, pull it out!"

While she complied, Takashi angrily yelled, "Hisashi, what the hell are you doing?"

"I'll be fine." He replied off-handedly. "I had a good grip on him."

Without warning, Wakisaka's head turned 180 degrees. Surprised by this inhuman feat, he loosened his hold on the undead teacher.

Hisashi tried to regain control by choking the undead teacher's head, but it was futile. Wakisaka opened his mouth so wide that they thought he had actually unhinged his jaw.

Takashi saw that Rei was still dazed and tried to step in to save his friend's life. However, he was too late and Wakisaka bit into Hisashi's left arm.

The young man screamed in pain as the undead's teeth pierced through skin and muscle. Wasting no time, Takashi ran forward and readied his bat.

With a heavy swing, the bat crushed Wakisaka's head and turned it into a mess of blood, bone, rotting flesh, and brain matter.

"You ok?" Takashi asked.

"Yeah. That bite just broke my arm's skin." Hisashi replied after panting a bit.

"Can you run if we need to?"

"Ye..."

"Wait a minute!" Rei interrupted. "You saw what happened. There's no way he's fine after that... that THING bit him."

"I'm ok, Rei." Hisashi tiredly answered her. However, for some reason he didn't look at his own girlfriend, but his best friend.

This wasn't missed by the girl and in an attempt to not feel left out, she screamed. "No, we should go to the infirmary and get help!"

"We can't." Takashi answered.

"What? What are you..."

"Takashi's right." Hisashi started. "We don't have the time or opportunity to go to the infirmary. Others will most certainly have thought of the same thing to help their friend. And if the situation is as bad as I think, around the infirmary might be the worst place to get help."

"Then... What should we do?"

"Get to safety."

Xxxx

_Roof_

"There." Takashi said as he ran towards the door on the edge of the stairs.

As they got closer, a bad feeling formed in Takashi's gut. It was a feeling like nothing will ever be the same and the days ahead will be drearier. Yet at the same time, he felt an odd sense of excitement, like he usually had whenever he was waiting for a new videogame to be released.

After the door was opened, they were greeted by a scene that foretold despair. All around the city, pillars of black smoke were rising from places dear to their hearts and places they were unfamiliar with. The noise of police sirens and car horns filled their ears, showing whoever was alive that hope is thinning as time goes. The smell of spilt blood and excrement from whatever victims the living dead tore apart filled the air, completing the vision of despair and hopelessness.

"No way... " Rei gasped in shock.

Takashi's eyes widened for a second, taking in the sights of the ruined city. For a moment, his mind wandered to his lover, worried whether she was alright. But he quickly stopped that train of thought. 'Wouldn't wanna jinx it.' He said in his mind. Rather than worrying, his time would be better spent rallying for the charge to freedom, he thought.

"Hey, Hisashi, Takashi," Rei called out, nearly in tears. "Until this morning, no, until we got here, do you ever think how we take every day for granted?"

Before she was answered, however a squad of helicopters flew by, surprising her and her 2 companions.

"What the? Were those blackhawks?"

"Is it the US? No... they must be the SDF..."

"But where are they from? There are no bases around here."

"Heeey!" she called out. "Help us!"

"It's useless." Her boyfriend said. "The SDF only mobilized when there are missions to be carried out.

"And besides," he continued as he pointed below. "They weren't doing anything to those."

The scene Hisashi pointed out was a scene befitting a horror movie. There in the field, one of their own schoolmates was screaming in pain as all around her, people who were once friends devoured her. Mindless of her scream, they bit onto her, tearing her flesh like rabid animals.

"With that going on, we won't be saved. Outside, people are trying to escape. While inside, those things are multiplying by eating people. One bite from Them and you're turned."

"Them?" Takashi asked in confusion.

"They look and act like zombies, but at the same time they're not. I don't know why, but for some reason I think the only way to kill them is by crushing their heads."

Their moment of peace was broken when they heard a loud noise from the rooftop door.

"I think they're gonna break in." Takashi said calmly.

"Then we should get to the observatory and block the stairs. It might not hold long, but it'll be enough."

Xxxx

_School infirmary_

"Sensei, hurry up!" A short haired student called out while barricading the windows of the infirmary by moving chairs, occasionally glancing back to the restrained remains of his once-friend.

However, the teacher in question didn't even look at the struggling student. Her attention was drawn to a struggling corpse that was motionless mere moments ago.

"Hmmm... This is really weird." The buxom blond said.

"Sensei!" The student, Ishii Kazu urged as he approached her.

"Urgh, dammit. I'm sorry, Okada." The young student yelled out as he struck his friend with an IV hanger.

The school nurse, Marikawa Shizuka didn't notice the urgency in Ishii's voice as she paced around while mumbling out loud. "I was sure that he died... I mean I checked the pulse and there was nothing. The skin was cold too, so it couldn't have been a false death. But even if he was dead, the temperature decrease is..."

"Sensei, they're breaking through!"

Instead of answering the poor lad however, the busty nurse sighed in annoyance. "Man, this is like a low budget horror movie."

"Is this really the time to be worried about that?" the desperate student yelled.

"Okay, fine. Let's go. But there's something I have to take with me."

Just as she ran to pick up her bag, however, the undead broke through the makeshift barricade Ishii Kazu prepared.

"AAAAARRGGH! HELP ME!" the captured, and currently consumed Ishii Kazu screamed in pain and fright.

It was very regretful that no-one was ever prepped for a zombie apocalypse. As so, the school nurse could only freeze in shock as she helplessly watched the student that helped her before get torn by a group of zombies.

Xxxx

_Hallway near infirmary_

Fujimi High 3rd year, Busujima Saeko was at a conundrum. She agreed to meeting Komuro Takashi at their 'usual place', which meant the inner gate of the highschool, yet due to poor choice in her route she was stuck with quite a number of zombies in her way.

However, she did not care much about the details of these zombies. To her, the arrival of these things was nothing more than obstacles that delayed her from her rendezvous.

But, she added as an afterthought, dealing with the undead may be better than dealing with the living. After all, if she were to accidentally swing harder than usual, she might be charged with murder or manslaughter. Luckily, such a problem is nowhere near a second thought with the undead and she was free to pursue her sadistic urges.

It was purely by chance that she heard a loud scream of pain made by one Ishii Kazu. Driven more by curiosity rather than concern, she approached the infirmary.

Xxxx

_Infirmary_

As a normal person would say, broken doors and cracked windows were never good signs. However, the sight Busujima Saeko saw was more than just something bad. Right in front of her, a 2nd year student whose name eluded her was being torn apart by the undead. If she were a lesser person, she might throw up at the macabre sight. Yet, she calmly approached the rows of the undead while dispatching them one by one. After all, she realized a solid strike to the head was all she needed to kill one of those things.

As the last zombie's skull was cracked, she approached the quickly dying Ishii Kazu.

With the charisma of a military leader, she spoke. "I am the the captain of the kendo club, Busujima Saeko. 3rd year student, what is your name?"

"I-It's Ishii Kazu, senpai."

"Ishii-kun then. You did well in protecting Marikawa-sensei. I admire your courage."

With a softer tone, like a mother talking to her child, she continued. "Do you know what happens to those bitten? Do you want your parents and friends to see you like that? I have never killed anyone before, but if you want me to I can help you."

The young man smiled softly for the last time in his life as he resigned himself to his fate and said with acceptance. "P-please, do it."

Marikawa Shizuka approached the two, trying to stop the senior from doing what she thought she would do. "Huh? Wait! What are you..."

"Marikawa-sensei," the martial artist interrupted as she held up her hand to stop the nurse. "Please do not interfere. This is a matter of protecting a man's dignity."

She readied her wooden sword and continued. "To sit idly by like a woman is not something I'd rather do."

With probably the strongest strike she had done in her life, Busujima Saeko ended a person life for the first time that day.

Xxxx

_Rooftop, astronomy club's observatory_

The group of three managed to barricade the stairs in time, before any of the newly christened enemy 'Them' appeared on the rooftop. Everything seemed fine after they searched through the astronomy club's inventory which was enough to last them a day or more. Just as They showed up, a problem arose in the form of Hisashi who was coughing out blood.

"Takashi, help! Hisashi's..." Rei called out in panic.

The spiky haired boy approached the two of them with a grimly calm aura. "You okay?"

"It's just like in the movies." Hisashi said in between coughs as he looked at the blood on his hands. "Even a single bite is fatal."

"NO! YOU'RE WRONG!" his girlfriend yelled out. "YOU'LL BE OKAY!"

"This... is just like a scene... from the movies." He said weakly, ignoring Rei completely.

"Hey... Takashi..."

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry..., but... I'll... have to... ask you for... another... favor."

"Name it." Takashi said solemnly.

"Will... you... kill me?"

"NO! DON'T SAY THAT!" Rei yelled again.

"I... don't... want... to be... one of Them." Hisashi continued his dying wish as he coughed up more blood.

"Yeah."

"TAKASHI! DON'T! Hisahi's... HISASHI WON'T TURN INTO THEM. HE WON'T!"

"Sorry... Rei. I guess... my time's... up."

"Any last words, Hisashi?"

"Even... the blossoming flowers will scatter. Who in our world is unchanging? The deep mountains of vanity, we cross them today. And we shall not see superficial dreams... nor be deluded." He recited perfectly with a smile of acceptance on his face.

In a single move, Takashi pulled Rei away from her dying boyfriend and unsheathed the knife on his waist. With a sharp thrust, he stabbed his best friend's left temple, piercing his skull and through to the brain.

All was calm for a moment, before Miyamoto Rei screamed in fright, anger, and sorrow with tears flowing from her eyes. "WHY? WHY DID YOU DO THAT?"

"I fulfilled my friend's last wish. Because he didn't want to be one of 'Them'..."

"But he might not change after all! He could have just been fine after all that!"

Takashi gave her no response. In his experience, it was always better to just ignore the outbursts of people in highs stress. But he would admit that her words made sense, even if just a little.

"I wanted all of us to be okay! I didn't want to see Hisashi like this!" she cried out in anguish. "If Hisashi's going to leave me because he got bit, then I don't care if I became one of 'Them' too."

"I don't think he'd want that." He responded.

"And what do you know?" she asked in contempt.

"I get it... I get it now. You... you actually hated Hisashi because were together, weren't you?"

If she said that to him a year ago, the answer would definitely be yes. A girl he had loved since childhood suddenly going out with his best friend would definitely fill him with hate. However, she didn't even know the truth about her 'boyfriend'. So he didn't have an answer really. Besides, he already gave his heart to another, so answering her or thinking about that statement would have no merit whatsoever. He realized that replying to her would only cause more harm than good, he ignored her and walked towards the makeshift barrier.

"Hey, Takashi, what are you doing? Where do you think you're going?"

"I have a promise to keep. Staying here will only waste time and going together with you might be problematic. So this is where we part ways."

As he proceeded to climb through the mountain of chairs and desks, his leg was suddenly pulled by a teary-eyed girl.

"Wait, Takashi. I'm sorry... I didn't mean what I said." She sobbed out. "I'm sorry... so please, let's go together... please?"

Sighing in acceptance, the boy relented and went down. In an attempt to calm her down, he hugged her while cursing in his mind. 'If she knew about this, I am so dead.'

Xxxx

_2__nd__ year classroom_

Takagi Saya and Hirano Kouta were hiding in the corner of their classroom, waiting until the common rabble stormed out of the classroom in panic. 'Well,' she thought to herself. 'I was just waiting. Fatty over there was the one hiding.'

Finally after the shouts of panic died down, the pink haired girl approached her counterpart called out to him. "Hey, Hirano."

"T-Takagi-san." He shyly acknowledged.

"You wanna get out of here?"

"I... I do, but..."

"Then shut up and follow my lead. If we're lucky, that idiot will be where I hoped he would."

"Who do you mean?" the long haired student asked while jogging to match Saya's longer strides.

"Komuro." Saya replied quickly.

"What about the staffs and teachers?"

"Chances are, they're dead or halfway there. Any other ideas?"

"Well, the police and SDF comes to mind..."

"Forget it." She replied with finality. "They won't be around to help anyone of us."

"Why would you say that? I thought their job is to..."

"To protect important people, that's what. You think they'll care about a bunch of high school kids like us? No way. We might have a better chance asking the yakuza for help.

"Besides, are you an idiot? Even in movies the military's job is to secure people in power. If a bunch of nobodies like us die, it's just another sob story. If one of the politicians dies, it's a tragedy."

"So you mean..."

"If we're gonna survive, we can only depend on ourselves." She cut in while rummaging around a locker. "Now, you're a military otaku, right?"

"I don't really like the term, but I guess you could say I am. Why?" Kouta asked back while Saya walked to the teacher's table with a bag in her hands.

"You've seen the movie Lethal Weapon 2, right? Can you use these to make something useful?" she asked as she spilled the bags contents.

As it turned out, the bag contained what might be a gun rigging kit: a wireless electronic drill, a monkey wrench, a set of pliers, screwdrivers, a box cutter, and a gas powered nail gun.

Without talking, the long haired boy approached the table and hefted the nail gun. "It's a gas powered nail gun, huh? It's slightly heavier than the rifle I used to use..."

"I tried finding the air powered one like the one in the movies, but there's no point in bringing one, is it?."

"Do you like movies, Takagi-san?"

"Stop talking like an idiot, okay! I'm a genius, so I know everyth..."

"One spare canister, lots of nails..." Kouta mumbled. "Looks like there won't be a problem."

"Hey! What are you mumbling about? They're already crowding the hallway!" Saya half-yelled.

"Hmm... considering the weight, stability might be an issue..."

"Hey, fatty, are you even listening to me?"

Ignoring Takagi Saya's urging, Hirano Kouta was rigging up a stock for his nailgun. A duct tape here, a broken off chair leg there, an eraser for sight and presto! A rigged gun with a stock and a sight. With a grin, the boy raised his new gun to the advancing horde and fired a shot straight to the middle of the closest one's head.

"Yes." He cheered in success.

"Takagi-san, put that drill, the spare gas canister, and the toolbox in a suitable bag." He continued while thinning the number of zombies one by one. Each of the rotting creatures removed by a clean headshot.

"Wait, what? What's wrong with you? Are you ordering me around?"

"If you don't mind, Takagi-san." He said with a smile.

Finally realizing her survival depended on him until she met with more people, Takagi Saya did as she was asked to.

Xxxx

_Rooftop_

Komuro Takashi and Miyamoto Rei were currently sitting near the observatory's entrance to catch a breath before they have to face the horde of zombies between them and freedom. If this happened a year ago, he would be very happy, being alone with the girl he had loved alone in a place no one else could reach.

But now, it just made him uneasy. Not many people knew, but his girlfriend had very good instincts. If she were to find out he held a girl who was not her, he might have to face some dire consequences.

"Hey Takashi, can I borrow your phone? I want to try calling my dad again." Rei suddenly said.

"I thought the line was busy?"

"That was the 110 emergency line. He gave an emergency only number."

Without protest, he handed her his cellphone and waited with baited breath. It took a while, but finally the line connected.

"Hello, otou-san?" Rei called.

"Hello? This number... Takashi-kun?" her father asked.

"Otou-san, it's Rei..."

"Takashi-kun... did Rei give you this number? Anyway, listen to me. The city's in a big panic. If you could, go home quickly so you don't worry your parents and..."

The call was disrupted. Either way it didn't really matter because the conversation was only 1 way and Rei couldn't really say what she wanted to. She looked at the phone in disbelief and looked at the screen.

"Out... out of range? But it just got through!" she sobbed out. "Takashi... tou-san... he didn't know it was me."

"Rei..."

Xxxx

"Are you ok?" Takashi asked.

"I... yeah." Rei sniffled.

"Then if you don't mind, can you give me your mop handle?"

"Huh? What for?"

"I found a knife in the observatory. It's just a kitchen knife, but this way you'll have a better spear, right?"

"Yeah... you're right."

"I'll make the adjustments. In the meantime, can you find anything useful and put it in here?" the young man asked as he gave her a cloth sack bag from his bag.

"Got it."

As she took the bag and went inside, he chopped the tip of the mop handle with his machete and shaved the wood a bit. Afterwards he fitted it with the kitchen knife, adjusted the shaved part, and after he was satisfied with the fit he bound the two items with a roll of cellophane tape.

"Here. I put the water, bottled water, and any food I could find." Rei said as she handed him the bag.

"Materials?"

"In there too. Duct tape, box cutter, screwdrivers, to name a few. I basically looted the whole room."

"Ok. Any idea how we're going to break out of here?"

"Why don't we use the fire hydrant? The water pressure should be strong enough."

"Good idea. You sure we got everything we could take?"

"I double checked it already."

"Good. Then we won't miss anyth..."

"Takashi?"

Instead of answering, Takashi looked at the hydrant box near the observatory and smiled. Apparently getting to the observatory was a better idea than he originally thought. With a jab of his bat, he shattered the protective glass cover and took out a fire axe put inside.

"This'll be useful." He said as he checked the axe for any damages. Finding none, he tightened the strap to his bag so it didn't swing around and put the bat inside.

"Let's go." He grinned as he hefted the axe.

Xxxx

_Hallway, near infirmary, same time_

"The staff room? That's quite a difficult request." Busujima Saeko said as she walked quickly.

"Well, everyone keeps their car keys in there."

"So you suggest we secure an escape vehicle then? Very well."

"Ummm... Busujima-san, where are we originally going?" the school nurse Marikawa Shizuka asked.

"I promised a... friend to meet near the shoe lockers, but given the circumstances... I'm sure he's held up at the moment." Busujima Saeko calmly answered while slapping away a zombie's arm.

"Aaah... I see. Why didn't you kill them?" she asked again, watching the kendo club captain push a zombie away with her wooden sword. "It should be easy for you, right?"

"Stopping to kill everyone we meet may slow us down. In this kind of situation, being slowed down could get us surrounded. When that happens, getting free will be difficult if not possible both for me and you... but maybe not for him."

"Hey, Busujima-san, who are you talking about? Is it the same person you made a promise with?"

"Yes. He is... a very dear friend."

"Hee... Whoa!" just at that moment, the blonde nurse fell down as she tripped at a carpet nearby.

"Jeez! What was that?" she cried out.

"Hmm? Wearing that will make it difficult for you to run." Unceremoniously, the 3rd year student tore the nurse's skirt, making a long tear on her left thigh.

"Hey! This is Prada!"

"Which is more important? Your clothes or your life?"

"BOTH!"

Finding no way of seeing eye to eye with nurse Marikawa, Busujima Saeko sighed and kept on walking.

Xxxx

_Rooftop_

"It's just like practice. Steady feet, steady arms, focused mind." Takashi muttered to himself while holding the end of a fire hose. Although he wouldn't argue with Rei about using the fire hose, he knew the current was strong.

It was because of this that he was quite worried about how things may play out. But, he knew that worrying about it won't help any and he decided to just get this obstacle over and done with quickly.

"Ready?"

"Yeah! Go for it."

At that instant a strong jet of water gushed out of the nozzle and it took the young man a few seconds to control the lashing hose. As he managed to focus the water blast to the center of the table and chair barricade, it exploded outwards, turning ordinary school furniture into heavy projectile.

Several moments later, the front of the stair was clear of Them and they were ready to move out. Maybe, just maybe, this kind of world wasn't so bad after all.

Xxxx

_Hallway, near staff's office_

"Takagi-san, what are you doing?" Kouta asked while watching Saya throw wet rags at one of Them.

She shushed him and continued looking at him. As the rag hit his head, he didn't turn his head towards them.

Satisfied, she nodded and spoke to him. "Don't worry about it and shut up."

This time, she threw the wet rag to a locker near the zombie and it made a loud clanging sound. The undead limped towards the locker and hit his head on the metallic surface, but he didn't stop and continued walking forwards.

"Did you see that?" she asked. "They don't respond to physical impulses, yet when it heard the noise, he approached the source of the voice. This means that they don't respond to pain or touch, only noise.

"And maybe heat." She added as she grit her teeth. "Dammit, this experiment only makes me hate them even more. Let's go."

"Umm, Takagi-san, we are trying to get outside, right?"

"What are you implying?"

"Well, things could get bad if we continue this slowly..."

"Then hurry up, fatty!" She commanded.

Xxxx

_Outside of the staff room_

"Dammit! How the hell did it get to this?" Saya cursed.

"Well, we had to make a retreat and unfortunately this was the only plausible route."

"You think I don't know that? I..."

"Takagi-san, could you please help me fight them?"

"Why should I?"

"Because I'm almost out of ammo!"

"So what? When you're completely out I'll help you."

"But... they're right behind you..."

Turning around, Takagi Saya saw a zombie with bleeding eyes and as anyone would do, screamed in terror and surprise. "Get away... Get away..."

Fumbling around the contents of the spilled bag, she grabbed onto a portable drill and recollected her wits. "I said, get away you piece of shit!"

She powered up the drill and stabbed it into the zombie's head. All the while cursing out loud "Die, you little shit! Die! Die! Die!"

The scream from before attracted more zombies into the fray and they would be overwhelmed as the main attacker was out of ammo and the support was in hysterics. Luckily for them, the same scream also attracted the attention of 2 separate groups: Komuro Takashi and Miyamoto Rei; and Busujima Saeko and Marikawa Shizuka.

Although Takashi would like nothing more than to calm his childhood friend down, he realized that there were other things to worry about. He calmly looked around and realized that there were 6 more zombies in the vicinity. After a brief calculation in his head, he called out to his companion. "I'll handle the front. Rei..."

"I'll handle the left." She replied as she leapt into action with far less hesitation than before. She swung her makeshift spear in a diagonal angle from the center of the zombie's body downwards to its right, severing his grasping arm.

With an upward swing, she nicked his neck, but the finisher was yet to come. She swung her spear downwards and pulled it back, then with all her strength, she stabbed her enemy right in the middle of his forehead. The blade sunk 2 inches deep and after a moment of stillness, it too joined the ranks of the truly dead.

Takashi approached his quarry quickly. As he ran, he ducked under a zombie's grasp to the left. After he stood up, he chopped the first zombie's right arm diagonally and slammed the other sharp end of the axe to the zombie's nose. The force of his swing brought the axe through its brain and cleaved its head open.

As another zombie approached, Takashi readied his axe and swung horizontally. But he miscalculated the zombie's height and only grazed its neck. He stopped the axe mid-swing and this time his blow hit its mark and took a little of the top of the zombie's head, splitting and spilling its rotting brain all over the floor.

Meanwhile, Saeko was using one of her common techniques in a fight. With the tip of her wooden sword, she pushed the 3 zombies back. The first to fall was the one directly in front of her as she swung her bokken down and crushed his skull.

Quickly afterwards, she changed her stance to facing her left and swung the wooden sword's broader side to a zombie's head. Then, with a loud swish, she broke the last zombie's head with a horizontal swing to the left temple. In an instant, 3 zombies were dead with crushed skulls.

After the melee ended, Saya came off her battle high and sat down in depressed silence. Seeing a fellow student in distress, Rei focused rushed towards her, followed by Shizuka. "Takagi-san, are you okay?" the brown haired girl asked.

"Eh? Miyamoto?"

Xxxx

Seeing the zombies near the staff room cleared gave Takashi a slight moment of calm as he closed and locked a door nearby. With a tired sigh, he dropped his bag and rolled his stiff shoulders.

"It's good to see you unharmed, Takashi." Saeko greeted.

"Yeah... I... I'm glad you're okay, Saeko." He replied.

"Eh? Takashi, you knew Busujima-senpai?" Rei asked.

"Yeah, you could say we're well acquainted." Takashi replied.

"I'm from the Soujutsu club, Miyamoto Rei."

"I... I'm Hirano Kouta from class 2-B."

"It's a pleasure." Saeko replied with a smile.

"You're all too soft." Saya suddenly said.

As everyone looked at her in confusion, she continued her speech. "'Senpai?' Seriously? You two are at the same age. Just because you were held back a year doesn't change that fact."

"Saya..." Takashi called.

"Don't treat me like I'm an idiot! I'm a genius! I can do anything I put my mind to! I'm... I'm..."

Without saying anything, Takashi took off his gakuran and draped it over the distraught girl while Saeko held her in her arms. As the wall around her broke down, she cried her heart out at the older girl's chest.

Xxxx

_Staff room_

"That should do it." Takashi said as he stacked another box of copy paper as weight for the makeshift barricade in front of the staff room.

Looking around, he noticed that each member of his 'group' had gotten slightly less high-strung. He saw Rei handing out everyone a bottle of water, Shizuka-sensei was slumping forwards, Kouta was sitting in one of the teacher's seat while looking at a bunch of the files on top, Saeko was changing the TV channels, and apparently Saya was missing. But the sound of running water told him she was probably washing up.

After he received a water bottle, he suddenly remembered of a particular item of his that was confiscated by a teacher. It was a cho-ran (long school jacket) he got from Saeko and that asswipe Teshima took it just at the first day he wore it too.

Mentally cursing the meathead, he rummaged through a couple of lockers until he finally found what he was looking for. He set the thick jacket (with a small surprise in it) on a table nearby and called out. "Hirano, you know many things about military stuff, right?"

"I do. Why?"

"Do you know what this is?" he asked as he pulled out an array of belts and pouches.

With a barely restrained squeal, the chubby boy explained vigorously. "That is an ALICE, short for All Purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment. It was used by the US Armed Forces from 1965. The one you have in your hand there has a pouch for ammunition, one for a water canteen, several small pockets. It's a set of belts and a backpack. If that's the belt and suspender, the backpack should be around here somewhere."

Surprised by his knowledge, Takashi paused for a while before he complimented him. "Wow, you sure know a lot. You wanna take this?"

"Can I?" he asked with glee as he clasped his hands in front of Takashi.

"Sure... why not?"

He handed the item to Kouta who was holding and dancing around with it. Not wanting to miss anything, the delinquent quickly looked for other things inside the staff room and indeed, he found a matching backpack. He carefully put it to the floor and found a handgun with a box of ammunition and two spare magazines.

Looking at the out of place object, the chubby boy asked. "Do you know whose it is, Komuro?"

"My guess is Kobayakawa-sensei. He said he felt a lot safer with a gun at hand."

"How do you know that?"

"He asked me to introduce him to a gun shop owner I know."

"You sure are connected, Komuro."

"Huh? I thought knowing a gun shop owner is a usual thing."

"In Japan where weapons are strictly controlled? It is a big thing. What's more, this gun is an H&K Mark 23. Do you know that this gun is used by many different armed forces around the world? Including the US Special Operations Command? This one even has a flashlight attachment! Aaahh, this makes my heart soar..."

"You wanna take this too?" Takashi asked, weirded out again by his friend's over enthusiasm.

"I do!" he replied quickly before he sat on one of the chairs and began inspecting the weapon.

Ignoring the currently very happy boy, he found a weapon for him. It was a moroha tanto, 30 cm long with red lacquered scabbard and hilt. Carefully, he unsheathed the blade and found that it didn't reflect light even though it was sharp. Along with that, his other loots were: 2 pocket knives, 1 collapsible baton, a camping backpack, 2 bokken, 4 flashlights, 2 spools of climbing rope, 5 carabiners, and a toolbox.

After he laid them down on a cleared table, he stood near Saeko and waited until Saya came out of the washroom with his gakuran on.

"All right. Now that everyone's here, we can start thinking of our escape plan and destination." He addressed them.

"Shouldn't we go as fast as possible?" Rei asked.

"No. with our enemies being the undead, I don't think going near sundown will be a good idea." Saya countered.

"I agree." Saeko said. "With so little information about them, we should wait here until sunrise before we depart."

"But what about our families? Every second we don't go to their rescue, their chances of surviving drops." The brown haired girl retorted.

"While that is true..." Takashi said. "Without proper preparations, the only thing we will be is a batch of casualties. Waiting for one night can increase our chances of survival."

"So, it's decided?"

"Yeah. We will wait here until sunrise. In the meantime, gather anything you think will be necessary or might help. We can't be over prepared."


	3. Escape from the Dead

**Opening: **Here's chapter 3. I apologize for the very slow update, I just graduated and have been on employment since June. Thank you for being patient with me.

To **WryteRzDeezDayz:**. I changed it several months ago, you can check it if you want. Thanks for noticing.

To **Zenos518: **Oh dear, I know what you mean, but didn't realize until after you told me. I'm sorry if it wasn't to your liking, I tried to change the writing style here though. Hopefully it will be better.

**A.N: **This is a rather short update compared to chapter 2, I hope you like it. By the way, I forgot to ask this to you guys and girls, do you want special zombies? You know, like the Tank, Hunter, Witch, etc in Left 4 Dead. If you do, do you think the main characters should have special abilities or special weapons or none?

**Chapter 3: Escape from the Dead**

It was 6 p.m., just after sunset and the group was ready to escape the infected school. As they checked their inventory, they realized that even with Takashi's additional knives they were still short on convenient weapons; weapons that were easy to use, durable, and most important of all, deadly.

However, due to the low time limit they had, they decided to just escape, and loot whatever they can on their way to their families. Afterwards, they would either make a safe fortress like haven or roam the country looking for refuge.

Unfortunately, even in the planning stage, getting out of their current refuge was not easy.

"How is it, Hirano?" Takashi asked, peering through the gaps of the barricade they made.

"Not good. Even in the hallways alone I could count 15-20 of Them."

"Yeah... if there's that many of them in the hallway, who knows how many more will show up once we start the fight? Any ideas, Saya?"

"This might lure them out." Saya said as she held up a pink rubber ball. "It's one of those home-shopping pet balls that have a bell inside. It might catch their attention for some time, but I don't know if it's enough."

"If the lack of noise is the problem, we could use some spare changes, throw them to the wall, the lockers, or break windows with them. I saw it in a spy movie some time ago." Shizuka said as she fumbled with her wallet.

"Oooh, I only have a 100 yen coin." She said disappointedly.

"Who in here do you think has that many coins, sensei?"

"Yahagi-sensei." Rei suddenly said. "If I'm right, she keeps all her changes in a cup on her desk."

"That's a good idea, but do you think she has enough?" Takashi asked.

"If she doesn't, we'll borrow from the other teachers." Saeko told him.

"Alright. Sounds like a plan. Let's start the scavenger hunt then." The unofficial leader said with a grin.

Xxxx

Nearing 10 p.m., the group had finally collected every single loose change they could and the total was nearing 20,000 Yen in 50 and 100 Yen coins.

"We should rest now. Rushing to get out will be hard now that it's dark outside." Takashi said as he laid out the 'loot' from the school. "If anyone wants to say something about our escape plan, now might be a good time."

"Any other place you think might be useful to visit before our escape?" Hirano said as he held up his hand.

"Checking for anything else now might not be a good idea." Saya supplied quickly. "With the current situation, people might have already raided it and all that effort would be a waste.

"I say we just get out come sunrise."

"Good point. Anyone else?" Takashi asked while raising his right hand.

"What car will we use for transportation?" Rei asked.

"Sensei, what cars are available in the parking lot?" he asked.

"Well, there's the microbus we usually take for a trip, then the headmaster's Cresta..., my car..., a truck-like car..." Shizuka trailed off as she counted each vehicle.

"How big is your car?"

"Well, it's a hatchback. It's really nice too. It can fit 4 people comfortably..." she said before she realized one crucial thing. They were a 6 person group with additional baggage. There was no way they could fit in her car.

"The truck-like car?" Takashi asked as he looked to the parking lot.

"Yes, it looks like a car, but it's not. The teachers decided to use it for small club outings."

"Is the key here?"

"Huumm, every car key is stored here. So, I guess it is."

"Good. We'll take all the keys then." Takashi finished with a nod.

"Why do we need so many keys?" Shizuka asked again.

"If for nothing else, a bargaining chip." The delinquent replied.

Xxxx

_Staff Room, 6 a.m._

"Are you guys ready?" Takashi asked as he continued tearing down the barricade they made. "Make sure the stuff we collected doesn't go to waste, Ok?"

He looked back to see his comrades, all of them had a bag on their person to bring their loot and he was sure they were ready. With a sure nod, he broke the last piece of the barricade and threw 10 100 yen coins to a locker to their right, creating a loud clanging noise.

Immediately, the zombies in the vicinity limped towards the noise source and it gave the survivors a good chance to get out of the staff room.

"Go left." Takashi whispered as he pointed to his left. Following his lead, the group of 6 ran as quietly as they could down the stairs. The journey to freedom so far was good, they hadn't needed to kill any of Them yet, but they knew it was just a matter of time.

"There's the car park." Kouta quietly cheered.

"Yeah, now let's get out quietly." Saya replied in a hushed whisper.

As they passed the shoe locker, one of Them that was silent suddenly sprang to life, grabbing whoever was closest to it who happened to be Takashi. It was a terrible mistake as he kicked the undead on its jaw, shooting its head backwards and hitting the shoe locker. Giving the young man a valuable moment to ready himself and chopped his axe down in a perfect head splitting killing blow.

It was also the source of his current problem as the kick made a loud 'clang' and in an instant, every undead in the vicinity rushed towards them.

"Shit." He cursed as he turned around. "Go! I'll cover the rear."

"Like hell you are! You're coming with us!" Saya protested.

"I will, but I can't if you guys don't get moving!" the young man retorted. "Hirano, take the bat and get them out of here, you understand?"

"E.. EH?" Kouta stammered out. "But... but I..."

"Don't worry. When you're in the car, come get us quick."

"I'll accompany you, Takashi." Saeko said as she approached her lover.

"Thanks. You guys, don't forget to come and get us, okay? We'll make sure to get as many of them here."

"G... got it." The portly young man nodded with determination.

"You'd better keep your promise, idiot." The pink haired young woman said with a blush.

"Takashi, we'll get through this, right?" Rei said, unsure.

"Yeah." He nodded. "I'll see you later."

With a final nod, the group of 4 ran down the stairs straight to the car park.

"You know..." Saeko stated as she smiled. "It's been a while since we've been in this situation, hasn't it?"

"Yeah." Takashi answered as he hefted the axe to his shoulder. "This'll be fun."

"Yes it will." She replied as she readied her bokken with a cruel grin.

Xxxx

"Hey, have they done this often?" Rei asked as she ran.

"I don't know. Why do you ask?" Saya asked back, feeling particularly annoyed talking to the older girl.

"Well, they seem to be so familiar with each other, they trust in each other... kind of like..."

"A pair of lovers?" Shizuka suddenly chirped in.

"Wh..What?! W... why would you say that?" the auburn and pink haired girl asked in shock.

"Well... for starters, there were rumors of it going around in school..." the nurse replied with her index finger on her chin as she stopped running.

"And then some girls who were close to Busujima-san in the kendo club complained about it to me once... that she was getting too close this 2nd year guy."

"But... that... that could be anyone... right?" Saya reasoned.

"Ye... yeah, it's not like Takashi's the only 2nd year student who's close to her, right?" Rei added.

"Uuumm... can we... continue this later? We still have to take that car, right?" Kouta said uncomfortably.

"Ri... right. The sooner we help those two, the faster we can ask them." the policeman's daughter answered.

Xxxx

As soon as the 'car-jack crew' went quite far, Takashi and Saeko walked briskly to the glass doors of the school then turned around with the door to their backs,

"It's wide open." Takashi said.

"Yes, it is." Saeko replied.

"Shouldn't we get out first?"

"Why? I'm perfectly comfortable here."

"Outside, more space, more freedom, more prey?"

"A good point. But then, what was the point of us staying behind then?"

"I just want to spend some quality time with you... You know, just us."

"How sweet, but don't they count?" Saeko asked calmly while pointing at the undead that were slowly surrounding them.

"No. They're just props." Takashi replied with a smile as he hefted his axe to his shoulder.

With a melodious giggle, the elder girl laughed. This man was truly made for her. "After we get to safety, let's have some quality private time."

"Agreed. Now then about going out?"

"I thought we already are?"

"I mean out of the school building."

"Oh. Let's do that."

With a mutual nod, the two charged forward to the door. It didn't take long for the first zombie limping towards the door to lunge at them. With a twist of her hips, the swordswoman leapt and struck the undead in its neck, severing the spinal column. As she landed, she made a strong vertical slash that split open another one's head straight in the middle of the skull. With expertise only gained through years of practice, she parried an undead's arm and lead it to crash to another one, simply to immobilize them.

Not to be outdone, the young delinquent charged and swung his axe upwards, cleaving one undead's head in half. In the same movement, he brought it down and hacked another one behind him. After prying the axe off, he used the back of the axe to break one zombie's kneecap, sending it to its knee before he cleaved the rotting creature's head horizontally.

"Not bad." Saeko praised. "But I won't lose."

"Since when is this a competition?" the young delinquent asked with a small laugh as he regrouped with her.

"Since I'm telling you that it is." She answered with a coy smile.

"Oh? And what do I get if I win?" Takashi asked cheekily.

"Humm... well, we'll just have to see, don't we?"

"That works."

Xxxx

"Which one's the key to the truck?" Shizuka mumbled as she frantically searched through the bag of keys she had in her hand.

"Sensei, anytime soon would be nice..." Kouta urged politely while taking a few steps back as he watched more and more of Them approaching.

"We.. well, I want to hurry too, but I can't find them!" she yelled, nearly crying.

"Aaargh, give it here!" Saya yelled as she took the pouch into her hand and found the key she was looking for.

"Now come on!" she said impatiently as she opened a door and gave the key to the nurse.

Xxxx

"Nineteen." Takashi said after he dislodged his axe from another one of Their head.

"Twenty two." Saeko calmly replied as she swung her bokken to the side of an approaching undead without even looking at it.

"Not yet." The young man replied, seeing the rotting corpse try to grasp at one of them. "That one's still alive. So this is my twenty and your twenty one!"

He then swung his axe upwards like a golfer, cleaving the head in half and sending scraps of brain matter flying.

"Hmmm... Takashi is unfair..." the young woman said after looking at the splattered brain on the ground near her lover.

"All is fair is love and war, right?" he replied nonchalantly as he kicked the bottom of one zombie's head, sending enough force to rattle the brain off its spine. "And that's my twenty one."

"I'm already at twenty five though." The purple haired woman said. "Prepare my prize, won't you?"

"At first I thought the body count would only go up to the 30s, apparently we might have to go up to the 50s." Takashi said as he saw the oncoming horde of at least 100 undeads.

Just as he was about to join the fray and get to slaughtering, a loud rumble of car engine disturbed their concentration. In the next second, a silver truck cut a line of the undead mob, intent on rescuing the two.

"Ah, our ride is here." The young man said as he looked at the oncoming vehicle.

"Then I win, right?" Saeko affirmed.

"Not until we're out of the school." He replied while looking at her, not noticing that another one of Them approached him from the back.

Just as it was about to lunge for his neck, it suddenly slumped down like a marionette with its strings cut off. On a closer look, it had a circular hole on the side of its head, obviously a gunshot wound.

"Are you guys okay?" Kouta yelled with half his body leaning out of the truck, one hand holding a gun.

"We're okay." Takashi said before he reared his right arm back and threw the axe with all his strength. The flying projectile flew through the air and cleaved one of Their heads in half.

"Let's get out of here." He continued as both he and Saeko climbed to the back of the truck.

Just as Shizuka was about to put the pedal to the medal, a male voice called them.

"Hey, take us with you." It called.

Just as they turned their heads to look to the speaker, they saw a person they hadn't hoped to see, Shido Koichi. Along with him were several problem students: Tsunoda and Yuuki Miku and other students.

"Sensei, you still have the car keys with you?" Saeko asked.

"I do. What are you going to do with it?" she asked back.

"This." The purple haired girl replied as she threw some of them to Shido's general direction.

"Find your own ride!" her lover yelled at the other group.

"What? HEY! Wait for us, asshole!" The ever vocal Tsunoda yelled.

But as they rode away, none of them gave the other group a second thought.

**Closing A.N.: **Please read the A.N. above, it has a question you might find important. Thank you.


	4. In the Dead City

**Pre-Story A.N.: **Good day to you all, This is the 4th chapter of Banchou of the Dead. I hope you all find it to your liking.

**Replies to Reviews:**

To **JohnTitor**: Alright, so that's a no then? Well I was thinking that the special weapons and/or powers were for. I was actually thinking of a mixed power up, like a HF Katana for Saeko, Adrenaline Rush for Takashi, Eagle Eye for Hirano, etc. Thank you very much.

To **Fateion**: The running zombie you mentioned gave me a good idea which I will most likely put in the next chapter. While the animal zombie might not show up. The special abilities I mentioned was going to be more like buffs in RPGs, especially for Takashi and Kouta. The examples for this will be adrenaline rush which basically powers you up for a small amount of time with a rather bad side effect, or eagle eye that can make Kouta see further and slower, but may damage his eyes. I haven't updated because I was busy with work. Thank you very much for the praise.

To **Gravenimage**: Thank you for the support. I really don't like it in the beginning where Shido was taken into the bus. I actually hoped the slimy looking bastard was kicked out. That's why I made it so that Shido and his 'acolytes' were never taken in

To** Ranmyaku Kiritsu**: May I will take your review as a yes to both special undead and powers/weapons then? Of course, I was not thinking of any special powers of To Aru Majutsu no Index proportions. Thank you very much.

To **Pass by**: Your idea gave me an idea which I might publish later; hopefully you'll like it. However, the setting will be in medieval Japan, though I still haven't decided on an exact period yet. I think it will either be after the Sekigahara war, or after the Meiji restoration. I'll try to make it as interesting as possible. Thank you.

To **Anonymous:** Unfortunately, I might not follow your suggestion. The reason behind this is because of the drastic decline in human population, wouldn't it be more logical to create as many children as possible so that the group or mini-clan can ensure the survival of humankind? Though this is not to say that I don't appreciate your suggestion. Thank you.

To **Kenji Hayabusa**: just to be clear, do you mean that you don't want the group to be overpowered and can take down a special undead with unrealistic ease? I do plan on trying to keep the story as realistic as possible. Thank you for strengthening my resolve.

To **MysticSuperSaiyanGohan**: Okay... Obviously you didn't get the back story. In the 1st chapter, I described Takashi and Saeko to be individuals who are not stangers to violence and even came to enjoy it. Besides, I think that different relationships towards the victim might change how you feel. Now, Teshima was a teacher they both dislike, so I think that being curious would not be a stretch. Besides, even in the anime and manga, Takashi was watching with a combination of fear and curiosity Teshima got mauled by the 1st of Them. Because if he was just horrified, wouldn't he avert his eyes or even run? But I understand what you mean. Thank you for the input.

To **InflatedChimp**: Yes, I realized it after I read your review. Now, this might sound like an excuse, but I usually write on weekend nights when I'm very sleepy. Thank you very much for your suggestion.

To **n0mster**: Thank you very much for the reviews. Your suggestion about Takashi's special power was what gave me the idea of making him able to use adrenaline rush at will that will increase his overall stats. I agree with you on your review for the 2nd chapter; in fact, you're right on both accounts. I will make the formal announcement just before the start of chapter 4.

To **DemonAngel of Ice**: the idea of Takashi as a general will be the backstory of my next story (which I will write and publish as soon as possible) though I'm still deliberating on the appropriate timeline for the story. The official pairing for Kouta will be announced before the start of the story. I will put your vote as no to special zombies then. But the level-up zombies is a good idea. I'll try to incorporate them in this story. Thank you very much. By the way, can you guess what Takashi's relationship to the yakuza is? (^_^)

Thank you also to **strikeout, tesir samaha, whitefoxlia, bobbyh34, zeno518, badkarma00, Undead Splinter, silverfoxkurama, **and **Reading**.

Your reviews gave me ideas and the drive to continue writing this story.

**Announcement**: I counted the votes for the special zombie and the result was... A TIE! That's right, there 5 votes for special zombies and weapons/abilities and 5 against. I'll try to find a way around it. Don't worry.

Anyway, the determined pairing for this will be:

TakashixSaekoxReixSaya

KoutaxAsamixMatsushimax(undecided); I might resurrect some characters who were killed off in the canon.

**Chapter 4: In the Dead City**

Tokonosu city was usually crowded in the mornings and quiet during the afternoons. Being in Saitama, traffic was usually the heaviest in the mornings and nights when people commute to and from work, whether in Saitama or all the way to Tokyo. As it was almost 9 in the morning, traffic should still be rather lively.

However, the road was eerily silent, adding an uneasy, tense feeling. Not to mention that now they were nearing a commercial district, the road was littered with all sorts of vehicles, adding another difficulty in their journey. It was luck for the group that Marikawa Shizuka was good at maneuvering a medium sized pickup truck at high speed, but unlucky that she loved driving at high speed.

"Sensei, could you slow down, please?" Miyamoto Rei pleaded as she and the others were thrown from one side of the truck to another.

"Eh? But isn't this normal speed?" the nurse asked back while turning to look at the brown haired girl as they passed a short tunnel. "I usually go this fast going to work."

"Sensei, watch out!" Takagi Saya yelled as she noticed something odd in the rear view mirror.

"Huh? Oh, no!" the blond woman yelled as she made a sharp right evading a fast moving 16 ton bus that sped forward towards them with erratic turns and random weaves. Their vehicle lurched to one side and even had a few moments in which it moved with two wheels before it landed safely with no passengers harmed, but almost all of them were shaken.

As the bus passed, they saw why it moved so haphazardly. Everyone inside had been turned into one of Them or were being feasted on. With no one to properly drive the large vehicle, it continued to speed forward into a 20 m fall. It was no more than a falling coffin for its passengers now. Having nothing to break its fall sooner, the green and white bus fell on a power line, cutting it off right in the middle.

After it finally landed, its gas tank tore, spilling volatile gasoline onto the ground. In a matter of seconds, the severed power line with electricity arcing on its tip struck the spilled fuel and ignited the whole truck. Knowing that worrying about survivors was futile, the group continued on their way to resupply before getting to an appropriate shelter for that night.

"Whew, lucky we made it." The nurse sighed in relief before opening the window and peeked her head out. "Is everyone okay?"

"What the hell was that!?" Saya roared in anger at the nurse.

"Takagi-san?" the nurse asked.

"Have you forgotten the kind of situation we're in? As crazy and illogical as it seems, zombies are attacking us! The whole world, or at least this country is in the shitter! Do you really have the time to pull a careless move like that?"

"Takagi-san, you're being..." Miyamoto Rei interrupted.

"I'm being what? Cold? Cruel? Get it through your nickel plated skull that we're no longer in a normal world! Any mistakes, no matter how small can kill us all!"

"No, I mean... you're being too harsh on Marikawa-sensei. See, she's almost crying."

Looking at the blonde nurse, everyone realized that she was indeed almost in tears while gripping the steering wheel. Generally speaking, it looked like Saya was bullying her and it really made her feel bad.

"L... Look, sensei. It's not your fault. I mean... uh... the whole thing is new and um... it's normal if you're not really... used to it." She said slowly while trying to calm the sobbing Shizuka down.

"Yeah, I'm not that smart, but that doesn't mean you have to be so mean about it!" she yelled out as she cried on Rei's shoulder who switched with Hirano earlier in the trip.

"Sensei, I know that Takagi-san is being mean, but we really do need to be more careful..." the brunette consoled.

"Hey, apologize!" she whispered to the bespectacled girl.

"Sensei... I'm sorry about being so hard on you." Saya apologized awkwardly with it falling on deaf ears while the buxom nurse cried.

Seeing that continuing will be difficult when the group was divided, Takashi offered to fill in as the driver and called out to have the crew rest in a gas station with a convenience store just a stone's throw away.

Xxxx

_A gas station near Tokonosu's suburban residential district_

It was near lunchtime when the group had passed the commercial district and closed in on a gas station halfway between the school and the residential district. Seeing that the gas tank was halfway empty, they decided to stop for a while and resupply. With the familiar neighborhood being overrun by the undead, none of them knew whether the supplies they had were enough.

"Let's stop here." Takashi said as they neared the gas station. "We'll fill up and get some food from the store inside."

One by one, all of them got off the truck after it was parked next to the pump nearest to the convenience store. As the delinquent put the nozzle into the truck, he realized a fatal flaw in his plan. The gas station was self-service.

"Okay... money?" he asked, turning to his companions, to which all of them shook their heads in negative. "Anyone? We need some for gas here."

"Why not use yours?" Rei asked after a few moments of awkward silence.

"I used my last 30 yen on canned juice." he replied crassly.

"You suck." She said tiredly.

"Compared to who? The all perfect can't-do-no-wrong-Hisashi?"

"W...Wha... Since when do I compare everyone to Hisashi?"

"Well since you say I suck, there must be someone incredible to compare me to, right?! Excuse me that I can't be as good a guy as him!"

"He... Hey!"

"Whatever." He said dismissively as he turned back. "I'm taking money from the convenience store."

"I'm going with you." Saeko said as she caught up with him.

"...Me too." Saya said after she cast a brief look towards her other companions.

The three left outside watched the trio walking into the small store and stayed uncomfortably silent, none of them knowing what to talk about in the situation. It was only due to her experience in handling girls' affairs that Marikawa Shizuka spoke to Kouta, "Hirano-kun, would you mind giving us some privacy?"

Respecting their wishes, Kouta kept watch some distance away from them. Out of earshot, but still in sight.

Xxxx

_Inside the convenience store_

A small electronic chime rang as Takashi opened the glass doors of the convenience store. Under normal circumstances, it would make customers feel more welcomed and put them at ease. However, the remaining anger and stress in the boy made him more annoyed when the light 'ding-dong' sounded.

"Let's get this over with quickly." Saya said efficiently. "We need money, food, water, and basically any sort of material we can get our hands on.

"Ta... Komuro, take all the plastic bags under the cashier's counter and put all the money in one of them."

"Got it." The boy responded as he jumped over the counter and threw the remaining bags towards her.

"Busujima-senpai, take whatever food you can. Prioritize on non-perishables, canned foods, and sweets. Some chocolate will do nicely." She called over as she handed her senior a handful of plastic bags.

"I understand." Saeko replied. She knew that the high calorie content of the sweets could be used as a morale booster and convenient emergency ration, so what the pink haired girl's suggestion was very sound.

"I'm done." Takashi said after cleaning out the register. "What's next?"

"Then take the bottled drinks in here. If there are alcohols, swipe them too." The twin tailed girl commanded while approaching the counter and handed over another bunch of bags. "Don't be greedy though, make sure you can take them all in one go."

As the delinquent set out to do his job, she knelt down under the counters and took 2 jerry cans hidden in the corner. Seeing that they got everything they needed, they packed up and left.

Xxxx

_Outside_

"So... Miyamoto-san, what was your relationship with Komuro-kun?" Shizuka asked. Though her eyes were a little bloodshot, she was feeling better and her sobbing had stopped.

"We... well, he and I are... were, were childhood friends." The brown haired girl replied glumly with her head down.

"What changed?" the blonde nurse continued.

"We... made a childhood promise. A silly one I guess... that... when we grew up, we'd... we'd marry each other." Rei answered as she looked up.

"How sweet..."

"Yeah... that would've been the case if... never mind. It's all history anyway."

"That may be, but if you have a problem, wouldn't it be better to just let it all out?" the nurse pressed as she stepped closer to her quarry.

"That's true... I guess." The brunette said, her defenses slowly crumbling.

"Then..."

"We're back." Takashi called out suddenly as he exited the store. "Let's fill up so we can go quicker."

Xxxx

It took the group about 20 minutes in preparation, mainly filling up the truck and the cans, and reorganizing the truck bed to prepare some space to keep more things. They also tied down several things to the bed, just to ensure that they won't be flying around and hitting anyone who sat on the bed.

As everyone was preoccupied with loading the truck, a stalker charged and grabbed the one farthest from the group, who happened to be Miyamoto Rei. In an instant, he had his arm around her neck and his other hand held a short pocket knife too closely to her neck for comfort. With a voice befitting a deranged man, he laughed loudly while his hostage screamed, alerting everyone in her group.

"Nobody moves or this bitch dies!" he yelled while tightening his hold on the girl.

"You, the guy with the gun, drop it. Nice and easy-like." He commanded to Kouta, who obliged and slowly put his nail gun down.

"Kick it away and get back... all of you! 10 paces! And raise those hands!"

After the group of five retreated 10 paces, he asked to Rei: "Whose woman are you?

"Wait, lemme guess." He interrupted. "Yours, chubby? Nah, can't be you. No chick likes that kind of fatty. You're not a lesbo either, so...

"Yours, nii-chan?" he asked as he pointed at Takashi with his knife.

"What about it?" Takashi calmly asked with glare.

"Oh... you know. You have 2 other bitches, right? How 'bout you give this one to me? Share the wealth, eh? I'm not gonna kill her or anything. Just gonna rape her and fuck her and fuck her and FUCK HER. HAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

Hearing what that lunatic would do to her, Rei began to shiver in fear and disgust. However, she managed to calm herself and decided to wait for the right moment. Being the daughter of a police chief meant that staying calm under any circumstances was a must. Besides, if she couldn't help herself, she was sure one of her friends could.

Though furious like he wouldn't believe, Takashi didn't charge forward like any brainless idiots in action movies. Instead, he relaxed his posture and slowly stalked forwards towards the bastard.

"Who told you to move here, bro? Get the fuck back!"

However, instead of following the order, the delinquent just calmly walked forward, increasing his pace.

"You think I'm kidding? Stop right there! Stop where you fucking are!"

"Or what, dumb shit?" he questioned with a sneer. "Suppose that you did stab her. Do you think you'll walk out here alive?"

"W...what?"

"Suppose you stab her. There's still a chance she won't die. But after you do, that guy will pick up his gun and shoot you. Maybe you'll die, maybe not. But I'll carve up and leave you as bait for the hungry zombies." Takashi continued as he stopped walking and a manic grin stretched across his face.

"I... I'm serious man, get back or I'll kill her!" he stammered as he pointed his knife at the advancing delinquent.

"No... no you won't."

Knowing that his bluff was called, the mugger yelled and poised his knife to stab Rei in the neck when he suddenly got his toe smashed with the butt of the spear.

She then ducked out of the loosened hold and with her left hand, the brunette twisted the madman's knife hand until it faced away. With little resistance, she had managed to disarm the blade and used it to slash at his face.

"AARGH! YOU BITCH!" he yelled loudly while holding his face.

"Serves you right, asshole!" she yelled back as she smacked his head with her spear.

"Let's go, we've wasted enough time already." Rei called while running towards the truck.

"Here, for you." She said as she threw the knife to Takashi, who caught it with ease.

Though surprised at how cold she was, no one voiced any objection. The faster she realized how messed up the world was, the better. With the sun rapidly descending, they all knew that the residential district would be their best bet in getting shelter.

"He...Hey... where are you going?" their unwanted guest called pleadingly when he suddenly heard a lot of shuffling feet and low moaning.

"None of your business!" the furious girl yelled as she climbed to the back seat; the sound was getting louder and more frequent.

"I... I was joking, man... Come on... take me with you..."

"Go to hell!" she yelled again as the truck's engine started; nearly 50 of Them were visible now.

"Come on... I'm begging you here!" he said as he ran and grabbed the back of the truck and in a short time succeeded in climbing the bed halfway.

"Hey, didn't you hear me? I said FUCK OFF!" Rei screamed.

Just as he was about to climb into the bed, his movements were stopped suddenly as his right leg was grabbed by a lumbering undead followed by another who grabbed his other flailing leg. In his surprise, the man nearly lost his grip as the truck accelerated.

He tried to hold on as best as he could by climbing in with his forearms. As he heaved his body upwards, the 2 of Them dug their nails into his unprotected calves, opened their gaping maw wide, and tore off a hefty chunk of his flesh. With no strength left in his body, he let go of the pickup's bed and fell to the unforgiving ground face first, splitting his wound further.

Having his face slashed and gashed, nose broken by the asphalt, and several tooth missing spilled more of his blood than necessary. And in no time, more of Them converged on the thug's body. With his dying breath, all he saw was the retreating silver truck and its 6 passengers.

**Closing A.N.: **Starting from the next chapter, I will release the backstory of Banchou of the Dead, which I will call Banchou of the Living (kinda lame, I know) which tells the story of Takashi and Saeko's adventures before Z-day. Look forward to it please.


	5. No rest for the Dead

**Pre-story A.N.: **good day to you readers, here's chapter 5 of Banchou of the Dead. The Infected (different from the standard Them) did not make an appearance in this chapter, but the next one. I hope you find it to your liking.

**Replies to reviews**:

**Neoalfa: **Thank you for waiting. Here's the new chapter. Please enjoy.

**Shadowmaster115118: **Thank you for the compliment. I hope to bring more stories which will hopefully be written faster.

**Takashi Komuro: **Thank you. I did hear that season 2 is coming out soon, but I don't know about any continuation of the manga though. Maybe Shouji Sato is busy with other things?

**SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan: **I'll answer to your 4 reviews in 1 go.

I also thought it was weird. I mean, Takashi does not have the image of a star student, a flunky, or even a normal one. When I first read Highschool of the Dead, I originally thought he was a badass delinquent, but it turned out he was just a (seemingly) normal student. The image of a punk Takashi was what I brought into the story.

Well, there are actually many ways of writing the romaji. for instance, if I use the Hepburn romanization, his name would be Kohta; JSL: Koota; waapuro romaji: Kouta. But thank you for bringing this up. I learned something from it.

I also think it was very stupid of the gang to bring him along.

Well, I tried to keep the dojikko character of Shizuka. Was it too much?

**n0mster: **thank you for the support. The group was caught off guard because they were distracted by the conversation of Takashi's relationship. But because they were looking (hearing?) for undead noises, i.e.: moaning, shuffling feet, groaning, etc. they paid less attention to the other sounds. Kouta will have 2 additions to his harem; both are from Fujimi Gakuen. Can you guess who? the verdict will be announced after the review replies.

**Alrighty: **It's kind of hard to be done out of obligation, but I'll try.

**Guest: **Are you **Alrighty**? Well the concept is plausible, but it really depends on what you mean by staying romantic. Thank you for the recommendation. I will enjoy it if I have the time. Since you brought up 'fine by themselves', I actually had a thought: what if Takashi and Saeko were already married, in the 'business', and had a child when the epidemic hit? Anyone up for it? I think everyone knows to not mess around with Saeko she has the 'sadist mode' after all. Rei's treatment to Takashi is actually part of her and Hisashi's secret. something that I hinted at the early chapters, but no one guessed. Can you guess what it is? Heheheh

**NewAgeOfPower**: Well, I think that Kouta's early attraction to Saya was rather physical (he thinks she's cute, etc), but his later attraction to Asami was more emotional because she appreciates him more. So I don't really agree with your opinion that it felt like NTR. But it was a good point though.

**eiyuuou**: sorry if you don't like the concept. But there's a small vote after the story that I think you might be interested in (which I won't bother putting in the vote section because I prefer reading your opinion on the questions rather just a choose this or that)

**aprilliarsv: **Thank you for the input. I was actually thinking of a breed of undead that could run, jump, etc. the details are written below.

**argentorum: **Thank you for the support. Actually, Japanese civilians can own guns, but they need a stack of permits which are expensive and annoying to process. I think that I will add Shizuka and Rika to Takashi's harem and add 2 characters from Fujimi Gakuen to Kouta's. Most people don't seem to agree with the special zombies and it's mostly certain that they won't show up. The powerups are also in a stalemate, but I'll see what I can do about that. I mean even in the canon, Saeko did have the berserk mode. Thank you for the compliment. I hope you keep reading the stories.

**reject77: **You'll know Takashi's background pretty soon. I think some people already found out it. Care to guess? ^_^

**MT's Souless6: **I know I took too long. But I have work to deal with: one of my coworkers was transferred to another division, adding my workload and my other coworker's; my brother got married; and other stuff happened. But thank you for the review.

Thank you also to **KailSakray, strikeout, edboy4926, Meeelvin WooolF, **and **IronShounen RS.**

**Announcement: **There's a pilot chapter of 'The Last Living Banchou' in the end of this chapter which is basically a glimpse of Takashi's past from 4 years ago. I was thinking of making several other stories for Highschool of the Dead:

Sengoku Youkai Taisen (Warring States Great Youkai War); which will be set in the Sengoku era,

The Last Living Banchou; if it is well received. But this story could go 2 ways:

A series of one-shots during Takashi and Saeko's delinquent days which will make it a prequel to Banchou of the Dead, or

A spinoff in which Z-day never happened.

If you choose 1, I might write a story of the Komuro family after Takashi married Saeko and had a child, and Z-day will happen somewhere along the way.

Please write your opinion in the review.

**Chapter 5: No rest for the Dead**

It was almost nightfall when the group reached the residential district of Tokonosu city. Between dodging crazed survivors, police blockades, and hordes of Them, it was actually a small wonder the trip didn't take until midnight.

After driving for nearly half an hour, they reached an apartment building with a Humvee parked near it. Needless to say, Hirano Kouta was absolutely giddy seeing the large vehicle.

After the truck was parked next to it, the chubby boy immediately ran to the Humvee and stood still, admiring the beauty of it.

"A Humvee!" he exclaimed happily. "A military model too!"

"Is this the place?" Komuro Takashi asked as he stretched a bit.

"Yup, isn't it just lovely?" Marikawa Shizuka answered happily. It was her first time home after 2 days; add in the fact that those 2 days felt longer than her entire life, her joy of seeing the gated house was completely normal.

"A gated maisonette with a clear view of the street, near river and a convenience store. If you want to make a fortress, this is probably one of the best options there is." Takagi Saya commented. "Let's start unloading our stuff then. We'll just think about what we're gonna do once we're inside...

"Of course, leave it to Them to make things harder for us." She said with a shrug as she heard feet shuffling from inside. "Everyone, listen up. We'll have to clean the place up before we can rest."

"Hirano, you ride on the back." She commanded. "Don't shoot anything until I tell you to."

"Understood!" he replied with a salute after snapping out of his speechless phase.

"Komuro, you push the truck into the parking area and lock the gates behind you. Your job is to be as quiet as possible. Got it?"

"Yeah."

"Busujima-senpai and Miyamoto will be the guards. Defend Komuro and if anything gets inside your range, kill it.

"Marikawa-sensei and I will be in the car to park it inside since we're non-combatants. Now, our clean-up operation begins."

Then, as everyone entered the truck, Takashi began pushing the silver truck. After five minutes of, the entered the maisonette and he closed the gate with a light 'bang' and as he slid the gate's slot in, the first shot was fired and the killing began.

Xxxx

_Minami Rika's apartment, 18:00_

"That took a while." Saya said as she wiped her hands with a towel. The group was lounging around in the living room after cleaning Them out. It was nice to have a place to call home, even for a while.

"Well, you were the one who insisted on making it harder." Takashi replied after gulped down some canned coffee. "Don't get any blood in the apartment, don't break anything, and so on and so on. Do _you _think you could pull it off?"

"I know I couldn't, that's why you guys are the offense team, right?" the pink haired girl shot back. "So, what are we gonna do now?"

"Everyone, get comfortable. We'll discuss what we know about Them." The young man called out.

"It's a good thing I wrote notes then." She said as she stood up and walked forwards, making sure that everyone could see her.

"Alright," she started. "This is what we know about Them. I'll start with general information.

"We call the undead that we're facing Them because They don't share several characteristics with the common undead generally known as 'Zombies'. As we've seen during the past 2 days, They can attack one of Their own. We also don't necessarily have to destroy their brain, beheading works just as well.

"They are sensitive to sound and possibly heat. They might retain their sense of smell. Although unsure, assume that this is true for now. As far as we know, They're blind and can't feel anything with their skin. Are there any questions so far?"

"What sort of sound are They more interested in?" Saeko asked.

"We don't know yet. They might not have a preference because I tried it out a few times and they responded even to the sound of a wet towel hitting a locker. For now, assume that they react to every type of sound. Anything else?"

"Besides beheading and destroying their brains, are there any other methods to kill Them?" This time it was Kouta who asked.

"I tried stabbing one of Them in the heart. It didn't work." Rei answered.

"So, basically we either have to destroy the brain or the body?" the military fanatic asked again.

"That seems to be the only way. Yes. Anyone else?"

"Can we cure the bitten victims?" Marikawa Shizuka asked in a moment of focus.

"That depends really. We don't even know what caused this phenomenon. It could be parasites, virus, fungi, bacteria, or even nanotechnology. Now, I'm sure every one's tired. If there are no other questions, we can continue this later." Saya concluded.

Xxxx

Night had completely fallen for the group, yet for some reason a part of Onbetsu bridge was still bright as day. While the women opted to bathe, the men were busying themselves with exploring the house.

"Hey, Komuro, can you help me out with this?" Kouta asked as he held up a crowbar and pointed at a locked locker.

"You wanna break the locker open?" Takashi asked back. Seeing his comrade's nod, he walked to his gakuran that he put on a chair's back and fished out a small brown leather pouch.

"What's in it?"

"Something that I had hoped woulda been useful." He replied. He opened the latch that kept it closed, showing a full lock picking set.

"You can pick locks?" the bespectacled boy asked in surprise.

"It's nifty when you're in a pinch." He then took out a tension wrench and a rake. In just a few minutes, both locks were cracked and its contents free for the taking.

"Aren't you going to open it?"

"Nah, this is your idea. If there's a trap in here, I don't want to be the guy that gets blown up." The delinquent jokingly replied.

"How very loyal of you, Komuro-dono." He replied with a laugh. With the locker now open, Hirano was very delighted with what he found.

"Jackpot!" he shouted with a grin. "Springfield M1A1 Super Match. This baby's a semi-auto. But that's fine, because the M14 series' full auto is just a waste of bullets."

"Hirano?"

"The magazine holds 20 rounds. And it's fucking illegal in Japan."

"Is it? I saw quite a lot of it." Takashi asked back. But he was promptly ignored by his comrade who was in his gun-nut mode.

"The next one is... a Knight's SR-25 Enhanced match rifle. But, you can't get this in Japan, so it must be a modified AR-10! The other one in the locker is a crossbow. A descendant of the one that Robin Hood uses, the Barnett Wildcat C5! Made in Britain and so powerful, you can kill a bear with this baby."

Finally deciding to check the gun locker, the delinquent took out the last gun in it, which happens to be...

"An Ithaca M-37 riot shotgun! An awesome gun made by the Americans! It played a huge role in the Vietnam war!"

"Cool." He replied as he cocked it once then checked the attached scope by aiming it at Hirano's head.

"E-Even if it's empty, you shouldn't point it at someone! The only thing you should point it at..."

"Are Them, right?" he replied back. With minimum effort, he raised the shotgun with his right hand and aimed it at the door. "Mind if I keep this?"

"Not at all. In fact, I was about to suggest it to you."

They were disturbed by a small, buzzing sound. Judging by the volume, whatever the source was, it was not very far from them. With bright lights coming from Onbetsu bridge, it was safe to assume that the area was rife with activity.

After taking a pair of binoculars out, Kouta looked at the general area of the bridge only to find bad news.

"Well?"

"It's bad. The lights and shouts are attracting a horde of Them."

"Shouts?"

"Looks like a demonstration or some kind. There's a TV crew in there too, so maybe there's information in one of the news channels?"

Seeing nothing wrong with the suggestion, Takashi turned the 40" LCD TV in the room on, and saw a particularly odd group.

"You're right. Demonstrations." He commented. "Condemning the outbreak of the killer disease... which is a joint weapons project of Japan and America?"

"Sounds oddly specific."

"No, there's another odd detail here. Let's get the girls here first so I don't have to explain twice."

Xxxx

_15 minutes later_

"Well? We're here. So what's so important?" Takagi Saya asked angrily. Being woken up from a well-deserved rest after a bath, it was no wonder she was emotional. Currently, the twin tailed girl was in a small light blue tank top with only a pair of short shorts providing some modesty.

"Look at the TV and tell me what you think." The delinquent said.

"A group of 100-150 people demonstrating about... Killer disease outbreak? Are they crazy!?"

"Well, it's not like their idea is baseless. For all we know, they might be right in this... outbreak being a failed weapons testing." Busujima Saeko pointed out. The young woman was clothed in a barely decent manner of only a pure white apron, a pair of thongs and nothing else. If they were lesser men, the 2 people in the room with XY chromosomes would be all over her like a rabid dog.

"That's not it." He replied. "Notice what they have in their hands?"

Though the camera image was rather blurry compared to the usual broadcast, they still provide enough details to show the group what their leader meant.

"See here? The signboards are printed in great detail; they also have big banners with clearly printed words." He pointed out. "Because we're in the digital era, rallying 100-200 people in under 3 hours is child's play with social media, etc. But preparing demonstration gear will most definitely take time. With the outbreak only happening yesterday..."

"It's definitely odd for that group to have assembled the gear." Saya finished. "Even if they have a skilled artist to write the words down, making 50-60 signboards and pamphlets to hand out will definitely take more than 1 day."

"That's my point. It's as if these people know what was gonna happen."

"Maybe it happened in overseas earlier?" Marikawa Shizuka suggested. The buxom blond was probably the least decent of them all. With her blouse and skirt in the washer, she was only clad in a large towel that was barely covering her.

"Although that's possible, I don't think any country is stupid enough to let out news that big out without any sort of cover ups." Miyamoto Rei commented. Like Saya, she too was garbed in a tank top, however she only had a pair of white cotton panties on.

"Son of a bitch. Everything is going straight to hell, and still somebody complains about it instead of actually doing something." Takashi cursed.

Xxxx

_Demonstration site_

"We condemn the people responsible for this killer disease!" they yelled.

"We demand..."

'BANG!'

A gun was shot and instantly everyone was quiet. The officer holding the gun was a fresh graduate off the police academy and in the horde was his partner who had been turned. Seeing the oncoming horde behind him would frighten anyone.

"Hey! I didn't give you permission to fire!" the lieutenant chastised.

But, ignoring the command, the new officer fired again. This time to his partner's head, effectively silencing him forever. Seeing the desperate situation, fellow officers followed suit and discharged their weapon to the floor, hoping that those 'afflicted' would understand and stop their advance.

"STOP!" a woman begged. She was holding her dead child in her arms, yet for some reason none of Them approached her. "My child and I... are still alive! We're still alive! So please... save my child!"

Her child that had died suddenly began convulsing. His body that should be limp stretched like a newly awoken child and reached for his mother. Not for attention nor love and care, but for sustenance. With a bite stronger than any normal human, the child bit its mother's neck and tore it open with a spray of blood.

Unlike her child that lay dormant for some time, the mother turned in mere seconds. Her body convulsed and relaxed in a random interval that made her drop the boy she was holding while the ruby liquid continued to gush out of her dying body.

Within seconds, the transformation began. Her pink lively skin turned ashen gray. Her pupils contracted and her once bright brown eyes were now bloodshot and rolled to the top of her head. Her gait became lethargic and instead of walking, she limped with uneven steps. After she spat out the last a pint of blood, the transformation was complete.

One officer saw the whole thing and instead of fear running through his veins, anger boiled his blood. With calm fury, he raised his service pistol and fired a single shot through the undead woman's head.

"There! You see that?!" The demonstration leader provoked. "The despicable police... have finally resorted to violence... killing civilians!"

While his members cried in outrage, the police chief walked towards him with calm measured steps. All the while, the demonstration got more and more heated.

"This blatant abuse of power by the police is unforgivable!"

"Unforgivable!"

"Stand down." The chief instructed. "It's dangerous for you people to stay here."

"Fuck you, pig! You're just here to cover up the conspiracy framed by our government."

"This is my last warning. Go. Home."

"Fuck you! You go home! Go away!"

"Go away! Go away!" the mob chanted.

"We were instructed by central to take any measures necessary to maintain order. Even though it's not exactly legal, our orders were absolute." The chief said tiredly. He drew his gun and pointed it straight at the ring leader's forehead.

For the first time, he shut his mouth and it was silenced for good with a gunshot to the head. As people started to crowd over the corpse, a group of guttural moans came from behind the mob.

A small horde of Them had gathered and though some of them clumsily shuffled forwards, some of them had a healthier pallor and steadier steps. Once close enough to the bewildered crowd, they broke into a sprint, intent on feasting on as much human flesh as possible.

Xxxx

Everything was silent then, only the sound of white noise was coming out of the TV. "That settles it then." Saya said. "We'll have to pack up everything we can and move out first thing in the morning."

As everyone left the room to start collecting supplies, they heard short, rapid barking. "A dog?" Rei asked.

"Leave it be. We have to get ready to move out early tomorrow."

"You girls go ahead. We're gonna... uh... scout the area a bit." Kouta said as he pulled Takashi back.

After the room was empty, the chubby boy took the binoculars from one of the gun lockers and saw just how bad it was. Everywhere around the neighborhood, people were desperately struggling to survive. Everywhere they looked, the same desperately hopeless situation was the same: People who ran died, whoever fought died, and those who surrender also died.

"This is really bad." Kouta said as he handed the binoculars to Takashi who immediately began looking around the apartment.

"Whether it was because of the sound or light, They started to crowd around us." He continued.

"What are we gonna do about this?" the delinquent asked as he put the binocs down. He had had enough of witnessing the massacre and not doing anything.

"What are you suggesting? Start shooting at Them?"

"No, what are our escape plans?"

"That was unexpected..."

"Why?"

"Given your character type, I would assume that you were the type of person who'd do anything to help other people in need, not caring about your own safety."

"As much as I want to do what you just said, I know when the situation can't be helped." Takashi replied as he absentmindedly handed the binocs to a hand.

"Well, making a diversion comes to mind." Kouta offered. "Send something appealing to draw their attention, then run away like hell."

"That's a good idea, but what are we gonna offer Them?"

"A bomb in a slab of meat comes to mind, but I don't think that'll be effective."

"So, we wait and hope they leave then?"

"Indeed, the situation seems hopeless." A voice interrupted, surprising the two boys.

"GAAH! Busujima-senpai, you almost gave me a heart attack." The chubby boy said, holding his chest.

"Saeko-san..."

"But that doesn't mean that there's nothing we can do." She continued as she turned, unintentionally showing her bottom to the two, which caused Kouta to suffer a minor nosebleed.

"For now, we should do what we can and lay low." The purple haired young woman said as she turned the lights off. "And try to stay quiet. The less people; turned or not, know we're here, the better. Will you accompany me for a while, Takashi?"

While Kouta stayed behind in the balcony, the two delinquents were having a private conversation in the bedroom.

"This sucks." Takashi said.

"I know how you feel. Seeing those people get bitten and then eaten or turned was not a pleasant experience."

"That's an understatement."

"Self-preservation is necessary now, more than ever, Takashi. I'm not saying we'll just let everyone else die, but we should only do what we can." Saeko said as she hugged the angered Takashi. "We will do our best to save as many people as possible, but within reason."

"Let's rock 'n roll!" Kouta shouted suddenly before shooting at Them who started to surround the apartment.

"What is it, Hirano?" the delinquent asked, immediately peering through the binoculars to the general direction Kouta was aiming his gun.

"Man, I'm good. Even though this is the first time I used it, I can already get a headshot."

"Hirano, whatever happened to the original plan of divert and escape?"

"Dude, there's a little girl that needs help!"

"That pink haired kid? Maresato-san's daughter?" Takashi asked.

"You know her?"

"Her father helped me..., well, us quite a bit." He said as he handed the binocs to Saeko.

"Hold on to that thing. It's time to pay back a favor." Takashi said firmly as he put on his gakuran. "Komuro Takashi always repays his debts."

"I know. Come, I'll help you prepare." Saeko bade.

Xxxx

"Takashi, where are you going?" Rei asked.

"Running an errand." He said simply as he hefted a 20 kg propane tank on his shoulder.

"And this errand involves a propane tank?"

"That... and the truck."

"You're going to do something dangerous again, aren't you?"

"In our situation, even going out of the house is something dangerous." Takashi replied. With a rope in his hand, his friends got a general idea of what he was about to do.

"Well, given how pig headed you are, I know you won't listen to us anyway. Just... Just be careful, got it?" Saya told him shyly.

"You're not stopping him?" the brunette said in confusion.

"What's the point? Even if I try, he'll do it anyway."

"Well, I'm going now. Wish me luck."

"We'll see you out." Saeko said as she called the other 2 girls over.

Xxxx

_Garage_

"You sure that thing's gonna hold?" Saya asked from the porch.

"As long as it gets to where I need it to, that's enough." Takashi answered as he tightened the ropes holding the tank. Satisfied that it wouldn't move too much, he got on the driver's seat and started the engine.

"Takashi, we're opening the door. Are you ready?" Saeko asked.

Without saying anything, the young man gave them a thumbs up. A flash of headlight, a roar of engine, and he sets off to rescue a young girl and her father.

Xxxx

**Closing A.N.: **That's all for chapter 5. after this closing author's note is the pilot chapter of The Last Living Banchou. Hope you enjoy.

_**The Last Living Banchou - Pilot**_

_Arakawa river side_

It was a rather normal autumn evening. The air was still warm even though summer had ended, yet most schools had had their students wear their winter uniforms. With the sun just about to set, the sky was orange as if a great fire raged in the heavens.

If it were a love comedy or a romantic story, one Komuro Takashi would have met a girl that he would fall in love with at first sight. Unfortunately, this is not one such story. You see, instead of meeting a beautiful girl whom he would confess to after dozens of chapters telling roundabout daily activity, he would meet instead 10 well known delinquents from Kawagoe.

These 10 people who had proudly christened themselves "Enryuugun" (Flame dragon army) came from Kousen high; a well-known private high school with various characters. It just so happened that these 10 are the bottom feeders. Cowardly punks who didn't dare to mess with anyone remotely close to a teacher, yet would threaten anyone as if they were yakuza.

"Yer Sakamoto, right? Sakamoto Takashi." Their spokesperson said. An old looking young lad with a face more fitting on a bulldog with sagging cheeks than on a human, and a bright red mohawk similar to a chicken cockscomb, who shall hence be called Bull-chicken. Like several other private highs, they don't wear a gakuran, but a blazer. Their uniforms were a dark red blazer over a white shirt and darker brown pants.

"The Takashi's right. But my family name is Komuro." He said as he let his bag fall to the ground. He was actually sleepy, but sensing danger from the group immediately sobered him up.

"What? Yer tryin' to trick us? Well that ain't gonna work! Coz I know fer sher that yer Sakamoto!"

"Yea? Prove it."

"Well, we really do have no proof, boss. What if we got the wrong guy?" a member of the Enryuugun asked bull-chicken. This one had a pronounced overbite that gave him the perfect chicken look. He shall be named Chicken-1.

"EEEEII! SHUT UP! Do 'em in!" the boss yelled.

The 10 boys with red mohawks charged forward without any semblance of strategy. It was to be expected, really; after all, they got him outnumbered. What could he do anyway?

The Enryuugun didn't expect Takashi to even out the playing field by fighting dirty. As they charged, he took a fistful of sand and scattered it to their eyes. Given the sudden distraction, the foremost charger was struck the most and halted as he screamed in pain.

Given their numbers, it would actually be better if they try to surround him and then attack together. If he hadn't pulled that trick, he might really had been surrounded and consequently fucked up.

Though the sand trick couldn't stall as many people as he'd hoped, it was enough for Takashi to turn the tables. With a single stride, he flanked them on their right side and began the counter attack.

As one of the cockscomb punks was furiously rubbing his eyes to get the sand out; Takashi ducked, clenched his left fist with his middle finger's knuckle stuck out and struck a vicious uppercut under the armpit. The pain was enough to disable him for a few seconds, which Takashi capitalized on. He took a half step to the side, then used his left hand to position his opponent's right arm and held the hand firmly with his right. Without missing a beat he took another half step to the right, executing a perfect ikkyo.

As the other 9 Enryuugun's approached, he switched his technique; his rear foot took a step forward, and he turned using the balls of his left foot. With the centrifugal force present, he let go and sent him rolling like a bowling ball.

The attack took 3 people out of commission; the one that was thrown, and 2 others who were thrown at. Though not severe, they each got a concussion that would land them a hospital stay.

The other 6 charged forwards and started to circle around Takashi, while bull-chicken stayed behind with his arms crossed. Their aim was to surround him enough then either blindside him or grab him then pummel him. One of them flicked out a switchblade and attacked from the front. His purpose was to disorient Takashi then lead him to their trap.

With a few wild swings, he started to herd Takashi to one of the other Enryuugun members. The lone student finally saw an opening after a stab and stepped forward with his right hand leading knife hand away and his left throwing a small but strong hook to the jaw.

Taking advantage of the disorientation, he then grabbed the mohawked teen's right wrist with his left, spun on his heel and then sharply twisted the hand. The wristlock threw the brightly colored punk a few meters away, broke the elbow and wrist while his shoulder was dislocated. With a strangled, painful cry, he too was knocked out.

6 more enemies; their biggest guy was not the leader, but just an ordinary low ranked grunt who was tasked with holding Komuro Takashi in place so the others can take a shot at him. The biggest member of Enryuugun was suddenly behind him and tried to do a bear hug, but couldn't as Takashi rotated his arms outward then grabbed his left hand and twisted it harshly as he moved under the mohawked boy's arm.

With a small rotation of his hips, Takashi let go, sending the thug rolling back and flat on his back. Seeing their mistake, the remaining five decided to surround him from all directions. This was when they made another fatal mistake. Given his fighting style and techniques, they all assumed he was only proficient in aikido.

What they didn't know was that he was also skilled in other martial arts and demonstrated it by throwing a superman punch to the guy closest to him, the one to his left who happened to be Chicken-1. The attack was thrown to his face and when it connected, it made a loud sickening squelch as Takashi's fist broke his nose, cheekbones, and dislodged a few teeth.

One of them approached Takashi from behind, intent on blind siding him. What he didn't expect was for his legs to be swept under him and getting a shoe to his face.

Another one charged forward from the side with a haymaker only to get hit with a brain rattling uppercut. The Enryuugun member's movement was stopped, but his arm was still extended. With that, Takashi grasped it with his left hand, grabbed his belt and threw him with a koshi-nage (hip throw).

The last one other than bull-chicken stopped his advance and instead put up a muay thai stance; slowly inching forwards.

"I see you're a little bit better than these chumps." Takashi commented as he pointed to the unconscious and groaning punks.

Without saying anything, he lunged forward with a flying knee to Takashi's head. Slightly surprised, he couldn't dodge the attack completely and got grazed on his left forearm that he used to block when he sidestepped. Seeing a chance, he retaliated with a right hook to the body that caught the punk squarely on the kidney. Feeling immense pain, he dropped forwards and Takashi continued with another hook to the cheek; ending the brief exchange with a bruised and almost swollen forearm.

"Dat's 9 o' mah' guys ya' took down." Bull-chicken said. "Wit' such ease, ta'."

"I... don't... under... stand... what... you... just said." Commented a panting Takashi. He was barely injured, but the fight drained his stamina like never before. 'When I get out of this, I'm training my cardio.' He thought.

"Ah' sed..., AAAHH! Fukk eet! Eet don't maddah'. I sed yer goin' down and dat's wat's gunna happen!" he yelled before taking out a brass knuckle and a pocket knife.

Without missing a beat, bull-chicken dashed forward. His left hand with the brass knuckle lead in a straight. Takashi positioned his bruised left arm on the inside of bull-chicken's forearm, then in a single movement pushed it aside and countered with an uppercut to the chin.

Expecting the systematic counter, bull-chicken withdrew his head and attacked with a hooking stab. The target was Takashi's neck.

Feeling that his attack missed, Takashi followed up with a bodyblow with his left fist before turning his right arm down to divert the knife attack and grabbed it with his right hand. Bull-chicken's concentration was broken after the hard blow and paid for it by being the victim of the younger boy's rage.

Takashi punched bull-chicken in the chest twice, cracking his ribs and continued by stepping into the dazed punk's left side, grabbed his lapels, then twisted his hips and threw him down. However, the technique left an opening where bull-chicken sliced Takashi's right hand with his knife, further enraging the boy.

Mercilessly, Takashi stepped on bull-chicken's nose with his heel, breaking it and sending blood flying. With his bloodied right hand, Takashi who was still in his adrenaline high twisted bull-chicken's right wrist until it broke and was about to throw another punch when a whistle broke him out of his berserking state.

"You there!" the police officer called. "Drop that knife and step away from him!"

Seeing that this could end very badly for him, Takashi raised his hands, with blood dripping from his right and waited for the drive to the police station or hospital. Come what may, he was going to face it like a man.


	6. Rescue from the Dead

**Pre Chapter A.N.**: Greetings readers, this is the 6th chapter of Banchou of the Dead; delivered late by yours truly. In my defense, I have a legitimate reason: I had to pull more overtime to get my job done. I have applied for a transfer that I hope would give me more time to come up with ideas and write. Here's hoping.

**Reviews replies:**

To **Draco38**: thank you for the review. The prequel story is 80% complete. Do look forward to it. Oh, may I borrow several ideas from you story "HotD Broken Blades"? I also have an idea for a Highschool of the Dead story set in ancient Japan, but in the Sengoku-Muromachi period.

To **SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan**: I would assume you're talking about the Last Living Banchou's (that's the title I decided on) pilot episode? He (Takashi) dropped the knife after the police warning. I'll try to explain the scenes better when it is published.

To **n0mster**: thank you for the praise. The girls that I mentioned were the two 'BFF's: Niki Toshimi and Ichijou Misuzu. The prequel story is to describe Saeko, Saya, and Takashi's relationship without using too many flashbacks. It would also describe how Takashi know many things about Tokonosu city that normal people wouldn't (hint: it's his parents).

To **MT's Souless 6**: Thank you for the loyalty. I highly appreciate it. For the special infected; I might (will) add them in the story. But the only ones that I think are feasible not due to mutations would be Hunter and Boomer. The reason is because Hunters could be humans that have not completely succumbed to the infection cause, but gain the effects of turning into Them, such as superhuman strength/ agility, never tiring, and thirst for human flesh. While Boomers are corpses that died due to drowning and getting bacteria growth in their stomach, causing them to get bloated bellies full of gas. But I don't think I'll introduce them in the story just yet, maybe in a few more chapters.

To **Gravenimage**: You're very welcome. Now that you mention it, the possibility of a 2nd season of Highschool of the Dead is getting bleaker. But one could only hope right? It's a shame that Xamayon dropped the translation of other works from Shouji Sato like Triage X.

To **Duesal Bladesinger**: Wow, two reviews at once. Thank you very much. I also hate Shido and when he was entering the bus I had hoped Takashi would kick him, but that never happened. The prequel that I wrote was just a pilot chapter; a preview if you will. The 1st chapter of The Last Living Banchou will contain the pilot chapter and several additions. I Hope you will enjoy the story when it comes out.

To **Stannum N**: Thank you very much. The 1st chapter of The Last Living Banchou is 80% complete. I hope I can finish it before the end of the month.

To **Yami Aries**: Thank you. As much I want to fulfill your hopes, I can't due to work. I will try to write more often though.

To **Guest**: Thank you for your review. The chapters cannot come out as often as we all hope for due to my job which is monotonously boring and time consuming. I hope you can understand. (Sorry)

To **Walrus Flavored Pizza**: Thank you for the review. I try to make sure the characters are not OOC because at one point characters in fanfics stop being OOCs and just basically turn into OCs and I try to avoid that. I'm glad that you like the story.

**Chapter 6: Rescue from the Dead**

Maresato Alice wasn't really sure what had happened over the last 2 days. Her father who usually went home late at night was already at their house before noon. The contrary happened to her housewife mother who disliked going anywhere for longer than 3 hours; she still hadn't seen her after she went shopping nearly 5 hours ago. It scared her, to say the least; the young girl was worried whether she would see her mother again.

The whole situation was surreal, if not maddening. After hunkering in their house for a day like the news told them to, the little girl and her father fled the house when it was suddenly invaded by Them. All things considered, the planning was practically non-existent; they didn't bring any supplies, no weapons safe for a wrench her father brought, and they didn't know where to go.

"Don't worry, Alice. We'll get to safety soon and then we'll meet up with Mama, okay?" he said with a shallow breath. After being promoted to editor, he had not had the time nor opportunity to exercise; whether by choice or circumstances; like when he was a reporter. That scoop he made about juvenile delinquency in Tokonosu city was the career booster that landed him a better paycheck.

'And a weaker stamina.' he thought to himself, panting in exhaustion while hiding in a public restroom.

"Papa, are you tired?" she asked worriedly.

"No, no. Papa's fine. Are you okay? Do you want a piggy back ride?"

"I'm a little tired, but I can still walk." Alice replied.

"Good girl. You were always strong." her father praised as he knelt down and looked at his daughter's eyes. He patted her head and ruffled her maroon hair, just the way he knew she liked.

"Come on then, we should get to safety." he said. He felt a little less tired than before and as he looked at the darkening sky, he realized they should hurry lest the darkness take them.

xxxx

Night had fallen when the Maresato family reached near the Arakawa river. The neighborhood that was usually quiet by night was eerily noisy tonight with the moans, groans, and scrapes caused by the undeads' feet being dragged on the ground.

"Just a bit more Alice."

"Are you sure this one will let us in, papa?" she asked as she looked to a house with its light on. It was a 2 storied family house with the walls painted light yellow. Under normal circumstances, one might stop to admire the skills of the architect who designed the building who made the abode look elegant with simple decorations. However, it was neither the time nor place to comment and praise building architecture.

"I don't know, but they have to." He replied. He stood up and began knocking on the door. "HEY! Open the door! My daughter and I need shelter for the night!"

"Go away!" a muffled voice from inside the house answered.

"Please, I don't care what happens to me, but please let my daughter in." he pleaded.

"NO! Go bother another house!"

"But my daughter...

"Fine! If you won't open, then I'll break the door!" Mr. Maresato yelled in rage as he raised the heavy wrench in his hands, fully intent on breaking the wooden door down.

"Okay, okay! We'll open the door. Hold on a second."

As the door was unlocked, Mr. Maresato was overjoyed and moved to open the door wider. "Thanks. You really saved..." he said happily, but he was welcomed with a stab to the chest with an improvised spear.

"...us?" Now he had a full look of everyone in the house. There were 6 of them, 3 males and 3 females; probably a married couple with their parents and in-laws. The one holding the spear was the youngest male; most likely the son, while the other 2 older men held a baseball bat and a golf club respectively.

The women were less armed than the men; one had a frying pan in her grip, another had a kitchen knife, but the last woman, the oldest was the one that caught his attention.

She held prayer beads in her clasped hands and prayed loudly, either to Buddha or whatever gods she believed in for his salvation. It was ironically hypocritical, he thought; here this woman was, praying for his soul while it was her son or maybe son-in-law was the one who killed him.

Alice was now horrified out of her mind, she had most likely lost her mother to Them and now her father was dying right in front of her. The shock induced by the whole situation hadn't set in with her young mind, but once the initial numbness faded, she realized just how hopeless the whole situation was.

"A... Alice..." he called.

"Papa? PAPA!" she rushed to him and knelt down, holding his right hand in her small grip.

"I'm... fine." He whispered out. "When it's... all... clear... hide... okay? Hide and... stay safe."

"Papa, no!"

"Stay... strong...okay? Papa... loves..."

With one last gasp, the man passed away. Only one of many who would succumb to the fear of their common man and certainly not the last. Her mind practically shut down, Maresato Alice cried out and held her deceased father.

"Papa, please! I wanna be with you... I wanna be with you forever so please... "

The sight was heart wrenching. In no way was she prepared for such a loss. Unfortunately, They don't have any compassion nor mercy and a crying child grieving over her father would make a fine meal.

xxxx

Komuro Takashi was not known for having the brightest ideas, nor was he known for the safest approaches to things. But he was known for his bravery and ingenuity. So when he saw the little girl who was in dire need of help, he did what any person of his character would do: he charged forward in a truck with a full propane tank strapped to the bed and a molotov cocktail safely placed in his coat.

His plan was as follows: drive straight to the girl, get off the truck, throw the molotov cocktail, then run like hell. In a nutshell, that would probably make for a very effective rescue operation, but he completely forgot to think about his return strategy.

With less regard than necessary, Takashi ran through nearly every zombie he could. Sometimes, he swerved the truck precisely to hit one of the undeads. This reckless prejudiced hate was also slowly, but surely reducing the tires' grip and finally it slipped.

As the truck began swerving out of control, he slammed on the clutch and hit the brakes; slipping all the way to his destination. With no other way to stop the truck, the delinquent opened the door, turned left then right, aiming to hit a wall. Nearing the opened gate of the door, he jumped out of the truck.

xxxx

Alice had been never cried much before; always a happy child, she was the bright light of her family. Then, the light had dimmed by merciless circumstances and she lost her parents. She had crawled away from her father when more of Them approached her and now a dog was barking at the horde of Them.

It may have attracted more of Them towards the girl and itself, but the barking also brought a hidden blessing in the form of a 5 metric ton truck moving at 80 km/h crushing an undead man to a wall.

Hearing the loud crash, Alice looked up only to see another one of Them ready to lunge at her. She screamed in terror and closed her eyes, hoping that her death would at least be a painless one. Another sound, this one stopped Their moaning abruptly. Braving herself, she opened her eyes to see a teenager wearing a gakuran beheading one of Them.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Though still in shock, the little girl managed to give a nod at his question. She didn't know who this person was, but she was happy as could be that he was there.

"Can you wait a bit? I think we have to clean up a bit over here." Takashi continued as he went on to cut another one of Them while another one behind it got its head shot by a high powered rifle.

"Nii-chan, behind you!" she cried.

Without missing a beat, he turned to his back and struck with the blade in his left hand. The strike hit home and another one of Them bit the dust.

"Can you stand? We have to get out of here quickly. My friends and I know a safe place." he said again, extending his hand in an inviting gesture.

The young girl didn't say a word and kept looking in the direction of a dead body.

"Your father?" Takashi asked.

She nodded sadly; her eyes were starting to tear up, but she held herself. At the very least, she wanted to look brave in front of her father. Takashi pulled him down from his slumping position and crossed his arms over his chest before pulling down a sheet from the clothesline and covered him.

He said a quick prayer and pulled out a flower, holding it out to the little girl. "He sacrificed himself to find shelter and give hope for his daughter. He was a splendid father." He eulogized.

Alice looked at her father's body one last time and started to cry. She thought she had run out of tears, but it looked like she still had some for her father.

Takashi waited patiently for her sobs to die down. No matter who or where, he still couldn't get used to the sound of women crying. He just hoped that he never would.

"Shit." He swore. Letting the girl cry was the moral thing to do, however it was not the best one as more and more of Them gathered after hearing her cries. Or maybe They had working noses? The young man didn't know and didn't care. They needed to go, right now.

There was no time to waste; the first thing he had to do was create a distraction, so he did just that. The young man pulled out the molotov cocktail he put in his gakuran and lit it with a lighter. Seeing the satisfactory flame, then threw it to the truck's location.

Takashi pulled her up and hid behind the house, waiting for an explosion that came not even 1 minute later. As one would expect, it was loud, bright, and hot. The explosion created a fireball reaching 20 m tall and 15 m across for a few moments before the remaining gas was left burning. Even from behind the wall, Takashi still felt his ears ringing.

It was a good thing he remembered to close his ears and instructed Alice to do the same. He knew the family who hid in the house may or may not survive, but he didn't care; couldn't afford to care. If he didn't do it, more of Them may swarm him and the little girl. Then, surviving would be impossible. Besides, who knew, maybe they had barricaded the door.

Peering around the corner, he saw that several of Them was shredded to mincemeat by the explosion, others were burning like a torch while still shambling this way and that. To his disappointment, not all of Them were disposed of, but the burning ones are spreading the flame and the truck had turned into an effective road block. With that way blocked, he climbed onto a wall and pulled Alice up, carrying her on his shoulders then walked back to the safe house.

xxxx

"I never expected the explosion to be that big." Kouta commented.

"He had a nice plan, but didn't really take physics into account. Though the fact that he didn't shoot the tank and hope it blew up was a nice consideration." Saya said while lowering the binoculars she used to look at Takashi and Alice.

"The problem now would be the return strategy." Saeko replied.

"What is that idiot doing now?" the pink haired girl said, once more using the binoculars. "What the hell?"

"Let me see." The senior said as she took the binoculars. "Hoo? He's improved."

"In what way?" Kouta asked as he peered through his rifle's scope.

"He's faster than before and could leap while carrying a someone on a piggyback. That counts for something."

"You mean he's done this before?"

"A couple of times, yes."

xxxx

"Onii-chan, are you sure this is OK?" Alice asked.

"Yeah, I've done this before." Takashi replied. "Though without this much pressure."

Running on fences are generally thought of as a thief's skill. But it was very useful for getting out of sticky situations, especially if one were chased by a rowdy crowd who were more... grounded; like they were. Currently the two were o tall wall fence that connected between houses in an almost perfect grid shape. The reason was, they couldn't be sure of the roads' safety yet; even with the explosion sure to attract Their attention and the resulting fire that should have incinerated a few of Them. Besides, there might be a few of Them hiding in a corner for an ambush; no matter how unlikely, it must be considered.

"Aaah... Onii-chan?"

"Yeah?"

"Can you... slow down a bit?"

"Why?"

"I... I gotta go potty."

"We can't. Look, if you have to go, just go. I'll allow it." Takashi said with a dejected laugh. "Just... try not to get any on my hair, OK?"

xxxx

"Pack up, we're leaving." Saya ordered after she put down a pair of binoculars. "We're picking them up.

"Get as much weapons and supplies you can!" she called out. "Food, water, clothes, anything you need."

"Umm... Takagi-san, this is Rika's place, not mine. And some of the stuff we're taking are hers." Shizuka apologetically said.

"When we see her, we'll apologize and reimburse her for them." she replied. "We can't apologize or anything if we're dead."

"Put all of them into the Humvee and hurry up, we don't have much time!"

xxxx

Being surrounded by enemies was not something new for Komuro Takashi; in the 4 years he had been a delinquent, most of his 200+ fights were with the odds stacked against him. In all those fights, the strategy was almost the same: divide and conquer; run a safe distance away and then pick them off one by one. After all, if he had to make a comparison, life was more like Dark S***s than Dyna*** Warriors. Being surrounded by even 3 chumps could spell death if one were to charge forwards without thinking. In this situation however, dividing and conquering could not be done simply because the enemies were everywhere, there are no gaps with which he could escape, and he was burdened by another person.

"This is really troublesome." he muttered.

"Onii-chan?"

"Hey, Alice, how far do you think we travelled?"

"I don't know."

"Because I could swear I'm hearing something very loud is coming our way and oddly enough I'm not the least bit worried." he said again.

A distinctly loud growl from an engine was heard, along with screeching tires. It was obvious just by the sound that whoever was driving the car had great difficulty driving it for a while. The noise was loud enough that some of Them who were nearby but out of sight were distracted and turned their rotting faces to the source of the sound only to be shot down by a high powered rifle.

"Get in! Quick!" A very distinct voice belonging to a pink haired girl ordered after the heavy vehicle stopped and opened its doors.

Without missing a beat, both young man and young girl jumped into the Humvee.

xxxx

_Next morning, approximately 7 a.m_

"Row, row, row your boat gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily. Life is but a dream." A young girl happily sung on top of a metal plated vehicle crossing a river.

"Wow, Alice-chan, you have a great singing voice." Kouta praised.

"Heheh, do I?" she asked back with a blush.

"You do. You'll be a great singer for sure in the future."

"Jeez, it was just yesterday that we have to abandon a perfectly good fortress." Saya grumbled from inside the Humvee. "And then he just sleeps like a log."

"Isn't this fine, Takagi-san? He was in a lot of trouble yesterday." Marikawa Shizuka said. The fact that she was able to drive perfectly well in the shallow river was a proof to her skill behind the wheels. The Humvee just took some getting used to.

"Trouble that we had to bail him out of. Hey, how long do you plan to sleep?" She reached out to the back and saw a scene that made her blood boil.

The young man was sitting in the middle of two beautiful ladies; Rei was using his shoulder as a pillow and Saeko slept on his lap. The fact that his hands were on top of each of their head, giving an illusion of affection made that sight even more infuriating.

"Dammit….. Wake up, you ero-manga protagonist!" She yelled out loud.

The three people in question stirred a bit, not at all comfortable being awoken from their rest. They blearily looked at each other and then to the pink haired girl in front of them before they suddenly realized their state, it was very unfortunate that a certain part of the delinquent's anatomy had decided to wake up together with him.

The pink haired genius had been furious then, but now she was absolutely livid. It was then that she decided to go on a sermon mode regarding morals and illicit relationships as if she were part of the Disciplinary Committee. Given her… spirit for it, all 3 passengers plus 1 driver became the unwilling victims of a very unforgiving tsundere childhood friend.

Xxxx

"Hey, Kouta-chan, why did you close my ears?" Alice asked. She was rather confused when the chubby boy immediately covered her ears following a rather loud yell from the Humvee.

"Eh, well… Uh…, a… a bee! That's right! I thought I saw a bee and I was worried it would get into your ear." Kouta hastily answered. How would he explain to this child that one of his classmates had just insulted his other classmate in a manner so… unique, even he wouldn't be able to explain it correctly? Besides, children should not know about ero until they reach the age of twelve (hopefully older).

"Ah, Kouta-chan, look!" The young girl pointed towards the river bank where a small group of Them were waiting.

"Uh oh."

Xxxx

Takagi Saya was well known in Fujimi High School for her explosive temper, arrogant attitude, and unmatched intellect. For some people, only part of the three traits would show; mostly the arrogant attitude and the unmatched intellect. However Komuro Takashi, Busujima Saeko, and Miyamoto Rei are currently experiencing only the explosive temper. It was like she had been 33% explosive, 33% arrogant, and 33% brilliant but now had forsaken the arrogance and intellect to take on a 100% explosive approach.

They were saved when Hirano Kouta banged on the Humvee's roof and yelled out. "Eyes front! I see 10 of Them."

Saya decided that exploding on her three…. Comrades? could be continued later. It was time to be intellectual. She stood up and snagged the binocs from Hirano's hand and peered to the distance. There were indeed some of Them. It seemed getting rest on dry land would have to wait a while.

Xxxx

"Dammit, Saya. I told you a million times already. There are times when you can be loud, there are time when you should be quiet. But did you listen? No…. lil' miss genius knows everything." Takashi grumbled as his machete cut off another head. That would make 9 of the 15 Them that hobbled around the river bank, not 10 like Kouta said. Given the noise of the Humvee and a certain genius, it was obvious some of Them had heard it and approached the possible spam-for-undead can.

He turned around and saw Rei trying to get used to her SR-25 and stabbed one of Them through the head with the bayonet. It was a good thing Kouta didn't use his guns too much; They are attracted to noise after all. The chubby boy had attached scissor blades to the bat and smacked it Their head, effectively killing it in one blow. While Saeko had dealt a heavy skull shattering strike to last Them's head.

The delinquent looked at his other childhood friend who looked smug crossing her arms under her bosom with a grin on her face. He had the urge to get back at her and judging by the look on his lover's face, she had the same idea. Oh well, revenge can wait. It was time to take a small break and a change of clothes for the ladies. The boys of course were told to stand on the opposite side of the Humvee while they changed.

**Post Chapter A.N.: **

Currently I have an idea for several stories (all Highschool of the Dead):

A story set in Sengoku-Muromachi period where they fight demonic beings from the underworld (gotta admit if the samurais only fight zombies, it would be rather boring, right?)

Feature: some characters would be youkai

The prequel to Banchou of the dead where Saeko and Takashi beat up delinquents and build up their skills against the undead and the world

Feature: many OCs; most of them would show up just to get beat up.

A what-if story in which Saeko and Takashi are already married before the zombie breakout

Feature: older characters, more responsibility for them

If anyone would like to use the ideas for their stories, please feel free to do so.

Read and Review please.


	7. Midnight with the Dead and You

**Pre-Chapter A.N.: **Hello dear readers, welcome to chapter 7 of Banchou of the Dead. How are you? Anyway, some good things and bad things stalled the writing of this chapter; mainly: I quit my job; I'm currently aiming for a master's degree, and I just became an uncle. Anyway, I have a few story ideas I'll put on the bottom of the chapter, and a question at the post chapter AN. I need some input for the next chapter.

**Review replies:**

To **Fier66: **thank you, I'm happy that you enjoy my work. Here's a new chapter for your reading pleasure. I hope you enjoy it.

To **Gravenimage** : you're welcome. I think I'll write the story of Takashi and Saeko post-marriage after this.

To **Guest Reader: **thank you for the praise. I kind of get what you mean, but I do think the harem bit is necessary; what with 90% of the world population zombified. But I do hope you still enjoy reading the story.

To **sillyrabbitp: **Here's the next chapter. After I write the 1st chapter of 2 other stories I had in mind, I'll post a poll in my profile. Which ever get 10 votes first will be prioritized. Don't worry, the prequel story; The Last Living Banchou will be in the poll.

To **SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan: **As much as I'd like to do that, I got 2 more ideas floating around. I will make a poll for my stories though; to see which one you'd like me to continue first. It would come out after I wrote the other 2 stories' first chapter.

To **Chairman Jeong: **The samurai story was already published. The title is Sengoku Youkai Taisen. However, I can't picture Takashi as a daimyou. Maybe in due time; by character development and such, but not at the beginning. I will consider this for the continuation of the story though. Thank you for the idea.

To **kazuki2292: **they will have one of their biggest scenes in the story (so far) in this chapter. I hope you like it. I don't think 2 trained martial artists would have a catfight like that. I think they would more likely beat each other black and blue, but I'll see what I can do. Thank you for the idea.

To, **MT's Soulless6**,** Lucien Naviaux**,** sticy17**,** HamJabroni Inc: **thank you for your reviews; here's the next chapter of Banchou of the Dead.

**Chapter 7: Midnight with the Dead and You**

A dog was a man's best friend; or so the saying went. It might not be completely true under normal circumstances as some dogs tend to be loud and destructive, but with a good trainer, any dog could be a faithful companion that might just save a life. In a post undead-apocalypse world, having a dog was a double edged sword. In one hand, they could sniff out any of Them that might be missed; but they also barked which may alert Them in the process.

Which was why both Komuro Takashi and Hirano Kouta were testing (playing) with the groups new pet/ mascot, Zeke the dog. His white coat and black ears reminded Takashi of a certain famous cartoon dog, Sn**py.

"Certainly does look like him, doesn't he?" the bespectacled boy commented. "But I wouldn't recommend naming him that."

"Yeah. It's a bad idea. Any better names you can think of?"

"Zeke comes to mind."

"Zeke?"

"Yeah, that's what the Americans called the Type Zero fighter jets."

"Not bad. You got quite a naming sense, Hirano."

"Thanks, I just came up with it on the fly. Let's test our new member's skills, shall we?"

They knelt down and looked at the dog, thinking of common orders given to pets and came up with a generic one.

"Hand." Takashi called out.

Zeke dutifully raised its right foreleg and put it on his outstretched right palm.

"That looks fun. Let me try." Kouta said. "Now the other one."

Again, the pup raised his foreleg, the left one this time and put it on Kouta's left palm.

"Together now." The boys nodded and before they got to play around more with Zeke, they both got hit on their noggin'.

"What the hell are you two doing?" Saya asked menacingly. To add insult to the injury, the puppy now had both its forepaws on the boys' hands, as if it was trying to console them.

The ladies had finished changing and were wearing fresh clothes they borrowed (took) from Marikawa-sensei's house. Even though the clothes were designed for adults, none of the high school girls looked out of place wearing them.

"What? Got a problem?" Rei asked haughtily. She was sure she had a reaction from Takashi.

"Nah, you look good." He replied. "By the way, do you know how to use that thing?"

He pointed at her chosen weapon, the SR-25 with a bayonet attachment. Despite being a policeman's daughter, she had never used any sort of firearms before, so for safety's sake, she also strapped the makeshift spear to her back. Just in case she needed it.

"It's fine. I can get Hirano to teach me, or I can just use it like a spear, like I just did."

"We're going over with the Humvee. You guys check if it's safe!" Saya commanded.

While Kouta happily saluted with a shout of "Yes, Ma'am!", Takashi was looking around to see if there was anything around them before they went over the bank. It would be real dumb if they were too focused on getting to the main road and got ambushed from the back. Seeing an empty glass bottle on the bank, he picked it up and swung it a few times before he threw it over to the paved road.

The thrown bottle made a loud, crisp sounding 'crash'. He figured if They came out because of that sound, then they weren't safe anyway. He waited for a few moments and took a peek. There might not be any of Them, but hostile humans could be laying out an ambush for them. After making sure there were no immediate threats, both of them climbed over and signaled Shizuka to climb up the slope.

Xxxx

"So, where are we going?" Shizuka asked. She got some directions every now and then, but she still didn't know where they were going.

"My house. It's the closest from here. We might get some suppllies for the rest of our trip." Saya answered. She was calmly sitting on the passenger seat while looking at a map and marking it.

"We should be able to see it once we passed that." She pointed at a short brick underpass where a number of Them unfortunately roamed.

The pink haired girl cursed under her breath, it seemed like nothing could go smoothly these days. It was either this problem or that and the existence of these things that were not yet named increased her anger to the breaking point.

"Dammit… Sensei! Ram them!"

"Eh? Huh?"

"Run them over!"

"Aaahh! I don't what'll happen, okay?!" The blond nurse stepped on the gas pedal and ran over through most of Them, though some persistent or lucky ones were not even hit by the speeding vehicle.

The passengers in the back opened their doors to maximize the area of impact, sending more of Them flying or hurtling to the ground. It was unfortunate that in her haste to get home, Saya forgot that tires need traction and the spilled blood and torn tissue continue to reduce the traction until at one point, they lost control.

"Sensei, we're moving too fast!"

"The break won't work!"

"Step on the clutch first!"

Slowly she regained control of the car, getting enough traction to slow down and move away from a traffic light in the middle of the road. But they were not out of danger yet; someone had installed a razor wire trap between two streetlights. Shizuka slammed on the brakes and banked to the left, trying in desperation to evade the sharp barricade.

The four wheel drive skidded to a stop mere inches away and found to their horror that the noise had attracted more of Them, making their initial assault fruitless. With no way out and no help seen anywhere, they decided to fight back. The Humvee and razor wire to their back, the close range combatants got off and prepared their weapons, while the sole ranged support climbed to the roof for a better vantage point. It was time to put the dead in undead.

Xxxx

"Shall we continue our contest from earlier?" Saeko asked calmly. Her bokken was held firmly in her right hand and she looked positively relaxed.

"Let's start a new one." Takashi replied. He was itching to get a win on her.

"Hey, you're not the only ones here you know." Rei protested.

"Fine then, you want to join in on the competition?"

"This is not a game!"

"No, but if you don't start lightening up, you won't survive for long." The elder girl commented.

"Yeah, stress is very bad for the body and soul." The man commented.

"But They are people!"

"Were." The delinquent couple retorted. "Were people."

"And in this kill or be killed world, shouldn't it be obvious which one to do?"

The distance between the assault squad and the horde of Them shortened as they talked. Now it was ideal to start the competition.

As if following a cue, Saeko and Takashi shot forwards like a professional sprinter. Their weapons in hand and murder in their mind.

Xxxx

Takashi's first kill had its head cut off by a slash so fast, the head was still attached to the body. He followed with a high kick that launched the head like a kicked soccer ball to another one of Them. While Their movement lagged by the flying projectile, he stabbed Them in Their gaping mouth and ripped the blade to the side, silencing another one of Them.

His right machete drew the next blood with a strong upwards stab, piercing through the jaw all the way to the brains. With practiced ease, he pulled the weapon out and continued the onslaught. Takashi's left blade slapped away a grasping arm followed by a low kick to Their leg that broke Their femur with a bone crunching snap. Their balance broke and They stumbled to the ground. Once Their knee hit the ground, he was quick to end Their un-life with a single downward beheading chop.

Saeko started her assault; putting power to her left leg, she lunged and swung the oak bokken down with a perfect textbook men strike. The blow crushed Their head concave and Their body thrown straight to the ground. She turned around in a spin using the balls of her foot as the axis and struck again, smacking another head in the temple and sending them flying in the process. She switched to a side stance and took one step forwards, then using the boost swung the weapon diagonally upwards, smashing Their head in the side of the skull. Seeing another one of Them, she used the pommel of her bokken to land a heavy strike to Their forehead and They crumpled down like a puppet whose strings were cut.

"How many did you get?" Takashi asked.

"Four… Five at the moment." She replied as her blunt weapon hit another one of Them.

"Huh… same here." He commented.

From the sidelines, Rei watched the two mow Them down with unbelievable ease. Had she been in a normal world, she would be concerned, if not straight out terrified by the ease with which they dispatch the undead. However, in a world filled with the undead, the only thing crossing her mind was how close they were with each other… and it burned her with jealousy.

The orange haired girl steeled her resolve and slung her rifle, then tightened the sling to make sure it didn't fly around and charged in with her spear. Her first kill was done with an upward thrust to the jaw. Her running start increased her power and with it broke the base of the skull and destroyed the brain. She continued with a low sweep using the butt of her spear, breaking Their balance and then switched her grip before she stabbed Their head. Without breaking pace, she swung the blunt end of her spear to another one of Them and thrust backwards to another head of Them. She pulled out her spear and cut upwards, then released a powerful one handed stab to Their head.

Any one of Them that got close would get Their heads destroyed one way or another, while the others that got just a bit too close would get shot. It seemed like the perfect defense formation, but they did not account for the appearance of even more of Them.

Xxxx

"Well now, this is a bust." Takashi commented.

"How can you be so calm? We're facing deadly threats here. One hit and it's game over." Rei countered.

"But it's the same for Them, right?" he retreated nearer to the Humvee and sheathed his left machete. Even though he was used to fighting, the numbers now was unreal. Maybe it was time to use his new toy?

He unslung the shotgun and aimed at Their neck; he figured the sprayed buckshot should hit Them in the head or neck. If he could hit many of Them, then all the better. He pulled the trigger and let loose a veritable wall of lead, shredding two of Their heads at the same time.

"Nice." He said in a daze. He often heard of the destructiveness of a shotgun, but never realized it was quite like this. Then he realized that cocking the gun with one hand was going to be ridiculously difficult and reluctantly sheathed his other machete.

"Head's up!" Saeko warned. She had killed yet another one of Them and successfully regrouped with the rest of the team.

"Any ideas, Takagi-san?" Kouta asked. The number of Them was increasing like crazy and he was about to run out of bullets. He felt that for every one he shot dead, two or three more took its place. Aaah, if only he had a minigun or a heavy machine gun.

"You guys, stay here, don't make a noise and try to climb over the wire." Takashi said. He fired his shotgun again, taking three of Them in the process. With a path somewhat cleared, he moved forward.

"Takashi, what the hell are you doing?!" Saya shouted.

"Hurry and get to your house, I'll hold Them off!"

"We. We'll hold Them off." Saeko corrected as she advanced together with her lover.

"Hey, take this with you!" Kouta said. He threw a handgun, the holster and a pair of magazines towards her.

"I'm…. I got it. Thank you."

Xxxx

"Hey, over here!" the delinquent yelled. He fired a round to another one of Them. Using Their sensitivity to sound, he aimed to lure Them away from the rest of the group.

"Over here!" his companion yelled out. With diversion as her main objective, she hit a streetlight with a loud 'clang'.

One by one, They shambled over to them, Their wide unseeing eyes followed their movements slowly. Every few seconds, loud noises were made; by shotgun fire, by hitting or grating whatever surface they could, or by handgun fire.

Saeko pointed to a less crowded street leading to a residential district through a flight of stairs. They both nodded and made loud noises along the way, but the horde of Them seemed to have lost interest despite the ruckus and turned Their attention towards the rest of the team. And their luring plan had backfired as the noise drew in more of Them from all over the neighborhood.

Xxxx

"They're back again, with company this time." Kouta commented. "Alice, do you think you can climb over the wire?"

"Kouta-chan?"

"Don't worry about us, ok? Take Zeke with you and go to a safe place."

"No!"

"We're going to be fine. Really."

"No you won't! You had the same look as my dad when he died. I want to stay with you, and Takashi-onii-chan, and the nee-chans forever. So don't leave me!"

Just when all hope seemed lost, rescue came in a…. high pressure water cannon?

"Hurry! Get the ladders!" A muffled voice commanded.

A group of people dressed in firefighter clothes came from behind the wire trap and set up ladders while the others widened the gaps in the wire trap so they could pass through.

"Something tells me you're not from the fire department." Saya said.

"Of course not." The leader of the group said. She took off her helmet and revealed glistening violet hair and a mature, beautiful face. "But it is expected for a mother to help her daughter and her friends in crisis, correct?"

"Mama!" the pink haired girl called out. She embraced her and felt all her worries melt away, well most of it anyway.

Her eyes widened as she remembered her childhood friend and comrade who were trying to lure Them away.

"Takashi, we'll wait for you at my house, so be sure to get there, okay?" she yelled out.

Xxxx

"That was a very close call." Saeko commented.

"Yeah, even though they were saved, I was still scared as all hell." Takashi replied. They were both running to a nearby motorcycle shop that Takashi had frequented, evading Them as much as they could and killing what couldn't.

"That was quite a vigorous send off."

"Yeah."

"And she called you by your first name too."

He started sweating at this point and tried to play dumb. "Did she? I… I didn't notice."

"She did. I never knew you two were that close."

"Ehh… Well, we were childhood friends, so… maybe her old habit…. A… Hey, look! We're here." He pointed at a pristine motorcycle shop that for some reason was relatively untouched.

Xxxx

"So, which one are we getting?" Saeko asked. The collection they had was impressive for a family owned business. Scooters, train bikes, trail bikes, choppers, ATVs from many brands were in there. Anything that wasn't in the shop could be ordered for a small additional fee. However, with the owner gone and the global supply chain basically ground to a halt, they had to make due with whatever was in there.

"An ATV might be a good idea."

"What about the fuel?"

"They keep a gas can or two. Besides, there's still this." Takashi took out a bottle full of yellowish liquid with a cloth wick. It was his emergency Molotov. The bottle itself could hold 1, maybe 2 liters at most, but they were only going to the Takagi family home, around 3 to 4 kilometers away. That 1 to 2 liters could take them all the way with a bit left.

"Good thinking." She praised and rubbed his head like a doting elder sister.

"Well, why don't you look for whatever might be useful here? I don't think we'll be coming back any time soon."

The purple haired woman walked to a small room behind the counter; the shop's garage where maintenances and repairs were done. Hoping that there was a working bike with fuel in it. The Molotov should not be used as anything other than a weapon if it could be helped.

Her expectations were surpassed, however when she found an amphibious buggy just inside the garage, along with two jerry cans of gasoline.

"Will this work?" she asked.

"Perfectly."

Xxxx

"So what's the plan now?" Saeko asked. "I thought this was the same river we passed on the way here?"

In front of her was the Arakawa river, and to the side was a bridge she could had sworn they had passed before.

"It's a bypass. We'll use the river to evade Them as much as we can. Did you get anything from the shop?"

"A couple of bags and clothes."

"Tools?"

"Got them too."

"Then hold on tight."

Takashi revved the buggy full throttle and jumped over a flight of stairs, sending most of Them that had followed tumbling down unceremoniously.

"So much for hoping They break Their necks, huh?" he said.

"They couldn't get back up from getting knocked on Their back, but can still get up if They fall on Their bellies. This is worth noting."

"Hang on!" Takashi commanded. He sped up and let the buggy jump into the river with a big splash.

"Saeko, are you oka…"

His words were cut short by a sight he had seen, but could not get enough nor tired of: his girlfriend in a wet white shirt and dark purple bra (lacy too, one might add).

"Takashi?" she asked while waving her hand in front of his face and got no response.

"Takashi, if you're not going to do anything, I will." She waited again for a few moments, still nothing. In fact, she was sure he started drooling.

"Okay then." Saeko shrugged her shoulders and pinched his sides.

"Hey! What the hell?!" he yelled out.

"Eyes on the road… well, river, lover boy. You'll get to see more later."

Xxxx

_A sandbank in the middle of Arakawa river_

"This takes me back." Takashi said.

"You've been here before?"

"Looked at it from a distance. I was warned against going here and I had no reason to. I think I read an article somewhere that a dog or something got swept by the current after it ended up here."

Being in wet clothes especially during autumn was bad for anyone's health, no matter who they were. Busujima Saeko was no exception as she sneezed after being in a soaking wet shirt for quite some time. She was lucky she had taken a few things from the bike shop and changed into one of the… acquired clothes, a black tanktop. For the second time in a single day, Komuro Takashi was rendered speechless in admiration at the sight of her.

"What? Do I look weird?" She asked meekly.

"No, you look great no matter what you're wearing." He tried all he could to hide the blush on his face, but it seemed impossible with his face red all the way to his ears.

"Hmm, I thought you've become used to seeing this." She said with a grin while slowly moving closer to her younger lover.

"Maybe we should help you be more… shameless?" She held him from the back and whispered to his ear with the sweetest tone imaginable.

"I.. I think we've rested enough. How about we depart now?"

Xxxx

The path from the sandbank to Takagi Saya's house was pretty complicated. From there, they had to cross the river back, gone through a park, exit via the East exit, then walk close to 1 km to get to the mansion. It would be pretty confusing if Takashi had not been a local and a family friend of the Takagi family.

The buggy they rode on was both a blessing and a curse in which it kept them mobile, but attracted Them with the roar of the engines. It also had a very vulnerable weakness: it was too wide for the narrow park stairs.

The park they were currently at, like most normal parks had grassy ground where dog poop was prevalent, trees for shades, bricked walkways for joggers and visitors, benches commonly populated by couples, and a vending machine or two every so often. But this park was built in a residential area and became a compact park; the trees were too close together, the brick walkways were too narrow, there were too many stairs which were surrounded by tall walls, and for some reason there was a huge water fountain with no conceivable use other than to look pretty.

Facing no other conceivable alternatives, Takashi gunned the buggy straight into said fountain, aiming for the slope of stairs added only for cosmetic purposes to it. The multi wheeled vehicle landed with a splash that sent water flying everywhere.

"Do you enjoy getting girls wet or something?" Saeko complained.

"Sorry, but can you get me a roll of duct tape?" He ignored her complaints for the time being and rigged the buggy so it went around in a circle in the fountain. He then fastened one of his machetes to the frame, turning it into an undead slaying carousel.

"Hmm, nice." Saeko commented with a nod.

Attracted by the engine's noise, They approached the fountain with their slow shambling steps and only got close enough to be cut by the steel weapon. It proved to be an effective distraction as most of Them from the area converged to the buggy.

"Come on, let's go."

Seeing more of Them converging on the area they were going to, Saeko readied her sword and struck with lightning fast efficiency. Every single one of Them that got within her range were downed with only a single strike. As she was readying another onslaught, she was stopped in her tracks. Her eyes looking at the horde of Them before her in silent rage.

"Look out!" Takashi yelled. He pulled her aside and shoved his shotgun in the mouth of one of Them who had been a young boy who shouldn't be any older than 10. With one arm, he repositioned Them to another angle and pulled the trigger. They being in her blind spot was dangerous as could be.

"We gotta go. Come on!"

She nodded as he pulled her by the arm to another route. It was a roundabout way, but it would be a lot safer than the shorter one. With darkness setting in, the best thing to do would be to seek shelter and rest. Just because They didn't rest, didn't mean they shouldn't too.

'There were too many of Them anyway.' He reasoned.

Xxxx

_A nearby temple_

In most cases of disaster, places of worship were often targeted as places of refuge, by the simple hope of some divine miracle that would get the refugees out of the mess. This was why hiding in a temple or church would usually be a bad idea. But then again, the temple he was in was not old enough to be considered particularly holy; the patron deity was not considered particularly powerful enough to help anyway. After all, what good would a local god of fertility do during a (technical) zombie apocalypse?

Takashi was willing to bet other famous temples would be overrun by desperate people who suddenly turned devout. Being a realist, however he realized the importance of the building for their survival; not in a religious way, but more of a physical way. The walls were made of brick and the doors out of teak; it should be safe enough to spend the night in. Maybe he could use the door bar to club some of Them?

After taking a spot check, he realized there were some candles for heat and light, and a pair of brocade curtains hanging on the left and right. If nothing else, they could serve as a decent sheet or blanket. On the altar were basic worship items such as a mirror, statues, and thankfully a daisho katana set. With night soon falling in autumn, the temperature fell from mild to cold in minutes. Though he was reluctant, Takashi lit a candle and set one in front of Saeko who was still quiet.

"Hey, are you okay?" he asked the shivering woman before him.

He approached her and hugged her from behind. If she was going to shiver anyway, might as well be in his arms, right? She didn't pull away, but instead leaned back to him. Enjoying the closeness and familiarity that seemed to be one of the few strands of sanity left for her. Her shivering stopped as she sighed, her head leaned to his shoulder and gazed to the temple's roof.

"No. It's… nothing really. It's just…"

She was quiet for a while, trying to gather herself, and put her thoughts into words. She hesitated a little before she asked him a question.

"Hey, Takashi?" she called.

"Yeah?"

"I believe it's time to collect my reward."

The young man had hoped she would forget about their wager, but obliging her was the right thing to do. After all, a man does not go back on his word. With great caution, he asked her. "What would you like to have then?"

"A dance would be nice." She replied casually.

"With no music?"

"That is what cell phones are for. What? Do you use them for calling and texting only?"

"There are other functions?" he asked in mock surprise.

She fiddled with her cell phone to find the perfect song and found it. It was the closing song of a thriller movie her father greatly enjoyed. A short, yet elegant song of adoration from before the World War 2. For some reason, she found it fitting.

"Okay then. You got me. May I have this dance?" Takashi asked as he offered his right hand, which Saeko accepted.

Together they danced in the shrine while soft music played in the background. In that time, they forgot about everything; Them, the apparent global crisis, their friends, and the uncertainty of tomorrow. They were just two people in love, enjoying a brief, yet romantic time together. As the music slowly died down, so did their movements and they ended the dance with a kiss no less exhilarating than their first.

"Hey, Takashi?" she called.

"Yeah?"

He was expecting her to continue her question, not suddenly getting his right arm grabbed by a pair of soft dainty hands and getting thrown to the floor. Even though he was a trained martial artist himself, he could not utilize any hold escaping methods due to surprise and lack of any leverage. He certainly didn't expect to suddenly be mounted by his lover whose eyes suddenly turned very, very scary.

"Ummm…. Saeko…. sama?" he started with a shaky voice.

"Yes, my dear?" she replied as her breath came out in short pants.

"You're starting to scare me…"

"Am I?"

"And your eyes, though beautiful are starting to terrify me."

"Are they?"

"Yes… and…"

Saeko leaned down and kissed him on the lips. Driven by passion, love, and sheer primal lust, she embraced her younger lover and deepened the kiss. The night was still young and it would not end anytime soon.

Xxxx

_Next morning_

One of the things people in one could ever wish for was when to wake up in the morning and see the face of their lover. For Komuro Takashi, waking up next to his girlfriend, both in the nude on the floor of a temple was something he could never get tired of. Sometime during the night, the brocade curtain was pulled off and turned into a blanket.

"Mornin'." She called out in a sleepy tone. It was probably a godsend that they remembered to take their clothes off first. He really didn't want a repeat of the time he came over to her house and had to borrow her father's clothes due to… a passionate rendezvous. Luckily Busujima-sensei was very understanding and was quite fond of the young man. It didn't stop him from putting his blade to Takashi's neck to get a promise that he would do right by her and take responsibility, not that it was necessary. He had planned on proposing after graduation after all.

"Good morning to you too, love." He smiled at her cute expression and noticed she had a bit of saliva on the side of her mouth. "Ready to go?"

"Sure." She drawled out. The young woman stretched like a cat and unintentionally showed off her butt.

"But I see someone wants another go." Saeko commented at a certain part of his anatomy that was awake and ready for action.

"Not right now… maybe after we reach Saya's house."

"Let's go then."

Xxxx

**Post Chapter A.N.:**

As I said in the pre chapter A.N., I have some questions for the next chapter and I'd be very grateful if the readers could help me with it:

1. Nuke or no nuke? This would change a lot of the story if the nuclear bomb that blasted EMP everywhere failed to launch.

2. Kill Shido in chapter 8 or later? Frankly I hate the guy big time, but I want to know if you'd like to see him dead in the next chapter(s).

(3). Can you guess what the song they danced to was?

These are the 2 ideas that I'd like to write before I post a poll in my profile of which story would you like me to prioritize. Below are the premises of the stories:

1. A what-if story in which Saeko and Takashi are already married before the zombie breakout

Feature: older characters, more responsibility for them

2. A AU story set in a fantasy world where war between the humans and the demi-humans is about to happen

Feature: fantasy world, war, non-human characters, magic (obviously)

Please read and review afterwards.

Thank you


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